


From The Ashes

by kristen999



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-18 11:38:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15484929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristen999/pseuds/kristen999
Summary: Danny isn’t the only one with baggage and rules and the need to protect himself. While struggling with his complicated feelings for Steve, Danny’s life is systematically torn apart during a drug case.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This story is complete and I will post a chapter each day.
> 
> Thank you to Imaginary_iby for being a patient alpha-reader. A huge thanks to my beta readers, Gaelicspirit and Tailoredshirt for all of their suggestions and crit. And a special thanks to Nihilvanum for all the cheer-leading.

.

 

***  
The air inside the Camaro was stagnant despite the low hum of the air conditioner. Danny adjusted the seat to stretch his legs and tried to get comfortable. He was restless; all he could smell was the lingering odor from the burgers he and Steve had eaten hours ago. His stomach growled at the memory. 

“Would you stop fidgeting?” Steve mumbled.

“I’m too old for stakeouts.”

“This isn’t a stakeout; it’s surveillance.”

Adjusting his ass in the seat, Danny suppressed the need to argue. There was no telling how long they’d have to sit here. Oscar Sosa and his boys had stepped out to smoke, which meant they weren’t inside on their cell phones conducting business. 

The very idea that he couldn’t leave the car or move around made it even harder to remain still. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was trapped inside with Steve.

He tried moving the seat again.

Steve put his binoculars down and placed them in his lap. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it’s Friday night and I’d rather be anywhere but here.”

“I’m sorry, man. Did you have family pl –”

“No, Grace is spending the night with a friend and Charlie is with Rachel.”

“Did you have a hot date or something?” Steve asked, his voice fake-casual. 

Danny sighed. “No. It has nothing to do with what my plans may have or may not have been, and more with the fact that I couldn’t have any if I wanted to.” 

“I’m sor—”

“Stop it, will ya?” Danny flashed Steve an incredulous look. “Not everything that sucks in my life has to do with you. Only _most_ of it.”

With an annoyed grunt, Steve played with the headphones dangling around his neck, checking the sound by placing one over his ear before letting it go again.

Danny tried not to squirm. The Camaro was parked on the side street of a Cuban restaurant at the corner of nothing and nothing. Using any type of van or commercial vehicle would make them stick out like a sore thumb. 

He sighed and breathed slowly through his nose, the hair along his arms standing up when he inhaled Steve’s aftershave. 

Danny rubbed at the back of his skull, a tension headache spiking. They had concealed a bug in the light fixture over the main dining table, although listening to a bunch of assholes brag about their sexual conquests was one of the reasons why he was in such a foul mood. 

What really bothered him though, was how they were obtaining the cell phone discussions. “Aren’t you concerned that this won’t hold up in court?” 

“No. Why are you?”

Danny turned around and stared at computer tower strapped into the backseat. “Because we didn’t get a warrant to use this.” 

“Yeah, we did.”

“No, we were approved for _surveillance_ , not a wiretap.”

“This isn’t a wiretap.”

Danny couldn’t let it slide. He turned back around in his seat and stared at Steve’s stubborn expression. “What do you call the ability to listen in on cell phone conversations?”

“Well, for one, this is a stinger, not a wiretap,” Steve said his voice dripping in smugness. “A wiretap monitors the phone line of a specific suspect. What we’re using acts like a cell tower, so we’re picking up the signals of everyone else near-by.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re routing other people’s traffic through this thing and snatching up data of innocent people.” 

“Snatching? Really?”

“The fact of the matter is that this,” Danny waved at the dumb tower behind them, “is not constitutional.”

“That’s still to be determined by the courts.”

“Exactly. It could be ruled on two years down the road, making anything that we use from the basis of this surveillance invalid.”

But Steve was stubborn and loved to counter every sound piece of logic Danny used. “We still meet all the other criteria for a general surveillance warrant. Not to mention, we are given leeway in the eyes of state court.”

“And if the case gets turned over to Federal Court?”

“Hold on….” Steve brought his binoculars to his eyes. “Damn it.”

Danny scrambled for the binoculars on the dashboard and looked across the street. Sosa and his boys had finished smoking their cigars and were headed toward their cars. 

“They didn’t even go back inside,” Steve growled.

Sosa and his cronies usually conducted business at rotating locations, using burner phones, then throwing them away afterward. It was the reason Steve brought the Stinger to eavesdrop. 

Except this time Sosa had discussed very little business. Tonight had been more like a get-to-know-you meeting for a newly promoted broker. A freaking job interview.

Almost two hours down the drain. He and Steve watched four suspects leave and drive away. Tailing them was impossible; there just wasn’t enough evidence to justify involving more personnel.

Steve radiated irritation. If he frowned any more he’d strain a muscle. 

“Come on, let’s grab a late dinner.” When Steve didn’t answer, Danny rubbed a hand over his shoulder. “I’ll even buy.”

Steve’s muscles relaxed under his touch. It was a reminder of Steve’s tactile personality; he enjoyed working with his hands, learned through taking things apart, assembling things. Weapons, cars, tools. Danny could calm Steve or offer affection with a simple touch. 

Danny removed his hand because he also responded to Steve’s touch, sometimes too much. It was a tightrope he often navigated when it came to Steve, thrilling and dangerous. 

***

Dinner was tacos and burritos. Steve wolfed down his meal like someone might try to steal it. Danny didn’t even chastise his poor table manners; in fact, it made him smile. 

Danny’s headache disappeared and his belly was full and satisfied. After a long week of digging through paperwork on the newest threat to the island, his eyes were ready to roll into the back of his head.

It took a lot of prodding to get Steve out of their booth and into the night air. The salt-tinged breeze perked Danny up a bit and he even laughed at one of Steve’s dumb jokes. 

Steve lingered once they reached the sidewalk, his steps lazy. “You could come over if you wanted. We could watch a movie…drink a few beers.”

Steve’s voice was like honey and he looked at Danny with a gaze that could light something on fire….

But they couldn’t do that anymore. Give in to temptation, fall into each other’s beds then try to work together the next day like nothing happened. 

“I really need to crash at home,” Danny said, despite his own regret. 

Steve glanced down at the ground before looking back up at Danny with his usual game face. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s been a long week.”

Danny hated the weight of Steve’s disappointment, but it was less complicated this way. Less painful.

Walking toward the Camaro, he heard screeching tires. 

Strong hands shoved him out of the way as a limousine stopped in the middle of the crosswalk they had both just been standing in.

After his heart stopped trying to burst out of his chest, Danny glared at the driver-side windshield. “Are you blind?”

The window of the back passenger seat rolled down a few inches before it rolled back up. Then the limo continued down the street.

“Jesus.” Danny ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at Steve. “Thanks.”

Steve stood beside him his chest heaving until he caught his breath. “Yeah, don’t mention it.” Except Steve looked like he might chase the limo on foot just so he could punch the driver in the face.

“Come on,” Danny encouraged with a gentle hand to Steve’s shoulder. “Let’s call it a night.”

They continued toward the car and Danny slid into his seat as Steve started the engine. 

***

An hour after spending most of the evening with Steve and almost getting run over in a crosswalk, Danny was wired. Wired and….

Danny looked around his empty living room. He missed reading a bedtime story to Charlie and Charlie asking him to read a second and third one. He missed Grace sitting on the sofa texting her friends. 

He flipped through the channels, imagining Steve doing the same. Danny slumped further into the cushions. “I’m a dumb idiot.”

But so was Steve. Danny wasn’t the only one with baggage and rules and the need to protect himself. Because every time Danny had broached the topic of their relationship, to figure it out, Steve had balked.

He grabbed a sofa pillow and smacked himself in the face. Why was life so freaking complicated?

***

By Sunday, Danny was ready to go back to work; at least there his mind was occupied. It wasn’t like he didn’t have chores to complete. Laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. 

But by mid-afternoon he was bored. Watching a basketball game helped, so did surfing the internet to read local restaurant reviews to gauge the competition. The electrical was being gutted so he and Steve weren’t allowed inside while that work was being done. For the first time in months Danny was at a loss to do with his free time.

He pulled out his cell phone but did not call Steve. He also didn’t review the case files on Oscar Sosa. Danny didn’t need word on the street to verify that Sosa was on the island to build a new Pacific smuggling network and not scout it out for retirement. 

Maybe he would grab just one file while his meatloaf baked in the oven. One couldn’t hurt.

***

Monday mornings always sucked. But this particular Monday morning ranked up there for the world’s crappiest days; he didn’t need Steve honking his horn to tell him he was running late.

Steve was leaning on the hood of the Camaro when Danny stormed out. He tossed the keys to Steve who grabbed them one-handed. “Do not say one word to me,” Danny growled.

Of course Steve spoke after five minutes of driving, but Danny counted it as a win that he remained silent that long.

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“No.” 

“Bad night’s sleep?”

Danny closed his eyes. If he didn’t spill the beans, Steve would annoy him all day. “My water isn’t working.” 

“Your water?”

“Yeah.” Danny sniffed under his armpit. At least his shirt smelled okay. “I called the city to report it and recording told me it’d been turned off.”

“Did you forget to pay the bill?”

“No. I have it on auto-pay. And of course a construction accident on the eastside busted a water main and all the customer service lines are busy.”

Steve reached over and squeezed Danny’s arm. His palm was warm. “Why don’t you take a shower at HQ? I’ll debrief the others about Friday’s surveillance.”

“Babe. I don’t take three minute showers; there isn’t that much of the case to cover.”

“I spent Sunday going over all the cell phone data we recorded. Sosa didn’t call many people, but he did have one interesting conversation.”

Danny thought about that short exchange, nodding. “The one to his girlfriend about dinner tomorrow tonight. You think it was in code?”

“Yeah.”

They pulled into HPD’s parking lot and got out of the car. Steve carried his laptop bag with him and patted Danny on the shoulder. “When we’re done with the meeting why don’t you take time to get your water thing straightened out? I’m going to check in with Duke about finding some people for future surveillance.”

Danny wasn’t about to lecture Steve on the lack of evidence to pull such resources; maybe going over that last phone call may prove fruitful. 

As Steve went to the front desk, Danny walked toward their offices. It occurred to him that Steve had spent his weekend on the case. With probably only Eddie for company since Junior had gone to the main island for the weekend.

Right. That was one of the reasons why he hated Mondays. Thinking about Steve…wanting to spend more time with Steve….

God, this week was going to suck. 

***

Not wanting to waste time, Danny took a five minute shower. After he changed back into his clothes, Danny joined the others around the surface table. 

He ignored the surprised, proud smirk Steve shot him when he arrived early for the meeting. Tani rolled her eyes and Lou hid his expression by sipping his coffee. Junior was kind of oblivious, though sometimes Danny thought that was his default expression.

Junior and Tani stood together on the left side and Steve and Lou on the right. Danny nodded at Steve to begin, wishing he’d grabbed his own mug of coffee before joining. 

“Oscar Sosa is a big time cocaine broker from California with roots in South America.” Steve pulled up a picture of a nondescript guy in his thirties. “We think he’s here to set up offices on Oahu.”

Tani raised her hand. “As in like, renting office space?”

Steve smirked and indicted to Danny to take lead on the educational piece of their show.

Danny didn’t have any slides or pre-planned presentations, so he leaned a hip on the side of the surface table and winged it. “Drug smuggling is set-up more like a corporation than you might think. There are different aspects of an operation. Things like supply, packaging, transportation, distribution, and money management.”

“Sounds like you have a lot of personal experience,” Tani said.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest. “When I was trying to make detective I conducted surveillance of an office on the lower east side of Jersey for weeks. It was nothing but the back room of a bar with a pool table. When you walked inside there were signs all over the place. No gambling, no drinking. People used a blackboard to document arrivals and departures for various loads of drugs.”

“Like a real shipping operation,” Junior remarked.

“It’s a real business,” Danny explained to his eager audience. He ignored how Steve beamed at his every word. “Smugglers use notes and charts. Stuff like _Lopez leaves on the twentieth with half a load, there’s space for four hundred kilos._ Then the local broker organizes space for other people’s shipments.”

“So, the brokers are in charge of transportation and distribution of an area?” Tani asked.

“Brokers are kind of the deal makers. They communicate with all the local dealers, negotiate fees, and then hand off logistics to whoever is in charge of transportation.”

“The transportation department.” Tani shook her head. “Got it.”

“And we think Sosa is the broker, not the leader?” Junior asked.

“Yeah,” Steve said, taking over. “We think Sosa is here to organize the smaller dealers on the island. I think the call we recorded last night has him coordinating with some local guys to put together a mid-level shipment.”

Lou finished his coffee and tossed the cup away. “Are we gonna use Sosa to lead us to his boss?”

“If he’s here.” Danny knew some operations were conducted remotely to avoid paper trails. “We don’t know if the leader came to the island and set up shop then left. Or if he’s here to oversee the operation in person.”

“Right now our main objective is to outline the structure of the organization so we can expand our surveillance program,” Steve explained.

“What about the DEA?” Lou asked. 

“I’ve been in communication with Captain Hayne. Five-O and DEA will work this case from two different angles. His team is working on the local buyers and traffickers,” Steve said. “If we can build a case to bust the leaders, then the DEA will use it an as opportunity to do a giant sweep and make multiple arrests.”

Lou nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Awesome.” Tani clapped her hands in eagerness. “Where do we begin?”

***

Danny listened to the recording between Sosa and his girlfriend but it really did sound like a succinct conversation about dinner. It wasn’t enough to expand the scope of their search warrant. He knew Judge Iona would strike down Steve’s request before he barged into his office with the bad news.

Danny allowed Steve to pace-out his frustrations. And like a child on sugar, Steve finally released all his pent-up energy and slumped into the leather chair in front of Danny’s desk.

“We’re going to need more to go on,” Steve said defeated. 

Because Danny cared about the man in front of him he did not use this opportunity to remind Steve that if he’d listened to him, it would have saved a bunch of time. But sometimes the judges granted their team a ridiculous amount of leeway, so Danny couldn’t be a hundred percent certain.

“Well, we know about the supposed dinner date for tomorrow tonight,” Danny offered. “It’s either legit or it isn’t, and if it isn’t, we’ll at least be able to identify the girlfriend.”

“And if it isn’t, then we know the location of a possible meet.” Steve’s face lit up and he sprung to his feet, animated. “That’s good.”

Danny really hated that stupid grin because he always found himself matching it. Steve either didn’t see it or didn’t acknowledge it. 

“Come on, let’s grab some food,” Steve said, leaving.

And because Steve’s enthusiasm was so contagious, Danny nodded along and followed him out the office not even remembering he’d brought his lunch.

***

Lunch was nice. Trying to reach the City Water Department wasn’t. And of course Steve drove Danny down to the municipal building and waited in line with him.

By the time the line from hell finally reached a decent window, Danny had to wait on a shift change. He even managed a polite smile when, five excruciating minutes later, a new employee arrived to help him.

Ben, as his name tag read, pushed up on his glasses. “Okay, Mr. Williams, here we go. You’re four months delinquent on your bill.”

“Excuse me? It’s on auto-pay.”

“Well, according to our records you are four months behind.”

Danny’s cheeks flushed red. “Your records are wrong.” Pulling out his phone, he showed Ben the screenshot of his bank records, showing all his on-time payments.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but my screen doesn’t show those.”

“And as I said, your records are incorrect,” Danny growled. 

Ben glanced over Danny’s shoulder, nodding in his direction. Danny caught movement at his left as a police officer started walking over, but Steve pulled out his badge and took the cop aside.

Danny took out his own badge and flashed it at Ben so he didn’t think Danny was a threat. “Look, all I’m asking is that you double check the files.”

“I did, Officer, but what I can do is call my supervisor and have her conduct an inquiry.” Ben frowned. “I’m sorry, that is all that I can do short of paying the account in full.”

***

Danny fumed inside the car, at the stoplight, on the freeway, stewing inside his anger as cars and phone poles passed them by.

“In a few days this whole thing will all be cleared up,” Steve said beside him. 

“And in the meantime, I can’t wash my clothes, boil water….”

“You can stay with me.”

“That’s not the point, Steve. The point is that I don’t have any water and I don’t really have the money to pay four months’ worth. Not after the deposits we gave the electrician. I mean, I could put it on my credit card, but –”

“You won’t need to.” Driving one handed, Steve reached over and rubbed Danny’s shoulder. _Touch touch touch._ “You’ll stay with me while the city figures out this mess.”

But Danny didn’t want to be a burden; he wanted his damn water turned back on. 

“Look, I won’t take no for an answer,” Steve said. “We’re going to swing by your place now to grab some stuff. Done deal.”

Steve’s presumptuousness made Danny clench his jaw, but the soothing motion of Steve’s hand kept him from lashing out, a balm to Danny’s short-fuse. While his anger dissipated, his worry did not. 

“Grace spent the night last with a friend; they went to school together this morning. How can she and Charlie come home if they can’t shower or do laundry?” 

“Can they stay at…?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll ask Rachel.” It was the last thing he wanted to do. Danny sighed when he noticed that Steve was still trying to comfort him. “Hey, hey, hands on the wheel.”

Steve gripped the steering wheel with both hands and shook his head. “Or, I could drop you off at that flea-trap of a hotel you stayed in once. I’m sure the roaches miss you.”

“At least the roaches don’t talk back,” Danny mumbled.

***

No matter how hard he tried, sometimes Danny found it impossible to shake his bad mood. It was like being stuck inside a box without a way out. Although a certain exasperating SEAL tried his hardest to help.

Steve made him dinner: gnocchi with sausage and spinach. It was light and tasty and the fact that Steve was practicing for the restaurant made Danny’s chest ache in a good way. 

Then Steve actually served him ice cream, two scoops of vanilla with cherries on top. Danny stared at the bowl and Steve gave him a lopsided grin. “It’s for when Grace and Charlie come over.”

Uh-huh. Sure.

Two beers later, Danny didn’t feel so trapped anymore and he sunk further into the cushions of the sofa. Of course Steve liked some weird survival show where two people are dropped off in some jungle hell-hole with no clothes and no real supplies. 

“I bet you think watching people struggle to make fire and build shelters out of leaves is your version of a romantic comedy.”

“They actually did everything right; it’s hard to fight against fatigue and severe sunburn.”

“Hmmm.” 

Danny relaxed his belly, warm and pleased from the alcohol. His shoulder bumped against Steve’s and Danny found himself leaning closer, his eyes drawn to Steve’s bare feet resting on the floor. “We should, you know, probably get ready for bed.”

“We should.” Steve stretched, his toes curling with the movement. “I’ll get some fresh sheets for the guest room, or ….”

“Or what?” Danny asked, because he was stupid and feeling happy.

“Or you could bunk with me.”

Danny couldn’t help it. He smiled, warm and fond, drinking in Steve in his white t-shirt, and soft gray sleep pants. “Wow, bunk with you. That’s some seduction technique.”

Steve licked his lips. “Is it working?”

Damn it, it kind of was. And Danny was torn between want and reality. But the sound of keys in the door jolted Danny out of his happy haze and Steve sat up further in his seat.

“Hey guys,” Junior said walking in. Then he paused beside the loveseat. “Should I…?”

“I was just going to get fresh sheets for the other guest room.” Steve got up and headed into the hallway. “There’s leftovers in the fridge,” he hollered over his shoulder.

Junior stood there like a deer in headlights and Danny shook his head. “My water is still off at my place.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’m going to grab a shower and eat.”

Danny dragged himself to his feet, realizing he still hadn’t had his own shower yet, and wondering if Junior did the whole three minute thing, too.

“I’ll just, you know….” But Junior was already down the hall. “Twiddle my thumbs or something.”

Or maybe he’d climb back into that mental box from earlier; at least inside there he made fewer poor life decisions.

***


	2. Chapter Two

***

Driving to work was only semi-awkward. Danny avoided any discussions about bunking-up or sleeping arrangements. Instead most of the conversation was centered on why Steve insisted on three-minute showers when his fellow SEAL took twenty minute ones.

“Some operators adjust to civilian life differently than others,” Steve commented. 

“So, while you used to throw suspects into shark tanks, Junior’s acclimation is a type of rebellion to stupid military rules about water conservation?”

Steve was a little perturbed by Danny’s jab at his precious rules, and the rest of the ride was done to the sounds of classic rock. 

***

By the time Danny settled in his office and worked on some testimony for later in the week, an hour had passed. Rubbing his tired eyes, he glanced over to see Tani inside the doorway.

“Um, how long have you’ve been standing there?” And how did she open and close the door without him knowing?

“Long enough to notice you could use a typing refresher.”

“Seriously, Rookie?”

Tani placed a brown paper bag onto his desk. “I did bring pastries.”

“Okay, you earn a pass.” Danny poked around the bag, his gaze automatically going toward the door.

“The boss is still downstairs in a meeting with the brass from HPD.” Danny glared at her and Tani shrugged. “I was wondering if the stars aligned and this investigation goes our way, what should it look like?”

“First off, no case ever goes the way it should. But if we’re playing what-if…,” Danny leaned back into his chair. “We conduct days, if not weeks, of surveillance on Sosa. We learn the names and locations of his associates. Maybe get an idea about some of their plans. Then using that information, we try to catch them in the act of a major crime.”

“Wouldn’t that involve undercover work?”

“Sometimes. If an opportunity presents itself. But if Sosa is a big time broker, he would have already picked out which dealers to recruit for shipments.”

“But he can’t know them all. He’s not from here.”

Danny picked up on Tani’s real reason for being here. “Are you angling for some undercover work?”

“I would volunteer if needed.”

“Maybe if you get Steve a smoothie during lunch, he might consider the idea.”

Tani smiled like a Cheshire Cat. “Speaking of the boss, I heard you spent the night at his house.”

“A) My water isn’t running at my place and B) how often to you and Junior text at night?” Danny raised his eyebrows and waited.

“Enjoy the bear claws,” Tani said, leaving.

Danny held his head between his hands. What the hell was he going to do while he stayed with Steve? A repeat from last night was unacceptable. Two beers and he'd been considering Steve’s invitation. Danny didn’t need this complication in his life. This...this stress and obsessing and _wanting_ was the very reason why after New Years--the last time they slept together--they’d both agreed to stop it. 

Not without a lot of discussion and commitment. Danny wasn’t even sure if Steve knew the definition of that C-word, although to be fair, Steve wasn’t the only one with issues in that department. 

Danny was raising two children; one of them was already thinking about colleges. He couldn’t afford distractions. Steve was a very good distraction, but they were opening a business together and to add a relationship on top of it? It was all but certain that either the relationship or the restaurant would fail, if not both."

And Danny wasn’t going to risk what he had on what-ifs. Everything was too precious. 

Before the sides of his mental box could begin closing in on him again, his phone rang. Pulling it out, he smiled at Grace’s picture. “Hey, sweetie. Aren’t you at school?”

_“It’s my lunch period.”_

“Is everything okay?”

_“Yeah. I just needed to know if Charlie and I are coming home today.”_

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not sure, honey. I still have to call the water company.”

_“Could we just go to Uncle Steve’s?”_

He suppressed a groan at the thought because that would create yet another complication and he was really trying to avoid them. “I don’t know if there’s enough room, hon.”

_“But my chemistry project is due on Friday.”_

He’d forgotten about the project. “Maybe I could come over there….”

_“The last time you came over, you and mom did that thing where you fake talked and it was super awkward.”_

“Okay, sweetie, let me see if the water is back on and if—”

 _“And if it’s turned off, maybe I could still come over. Charlie could stay with mom and I could sleep on the sofa or in the other guest room.”_ Grace took a breath before Danny could get another word in. _“Look, I got to go. Love you.”_

Danny stared at his phone and sighed. Then he remembered that he and Steve were supposed to conduct surveillance on Sosa and his dinner date.

***

Of course, Steve rearranged things so Danny could leave early. Because that was what he did and Steve being Steve was like freaking catnip. His loyalty a shield he wielded along with his sword and it was so very appealing. 

It was also one of the reasons why he allowed Steve to lead him around by the elbow. “After we wrap-up today, go home and help Grace on her school project.”

It still didn’t make Danny feel less guilty. “I’m sorry. I called the damn water department and they said they’re still investigating.”

“I said it was fine. Okay? I still need some help with trying to track down the other three suspects from the meet the other night.”

Danny stopped, noticing Steve was leading him toward Danny’s office. His mind was suspicious. “I thought we were trying to find them on traffic cams?”

Then Steve gave him the biggest grin. “We are.”

Danny groaned. Even with all their technology, they were only a team of six. There were hours upon hours of footage that needed to be combed through. “Okay. Just tell me which films to watch.”

***

After four hours of viewing traffic cam footage, they had several new leads on the other three suspects. With the stake-out tonight, everyone had gone home to eat and rest. 

Danny grabbed Grace and picked up something for dinner, then headed out. It was odd driving to Steve’s without the man beside him. 

And it was odd using his spare key without Steve complaining about something Danny did. 

“I’m going to set up in the dining room,” Grace announced, carrying all her stuff.

His daughter knew her way around Steve’s house like it was her own. Of course, she came over often enough, so it wasn’t too strange. Not at all. She practically grew up at Steve’s….

Danny had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he realized he didn’t know much about the project. He finished carrying the rest of the supplies inside from the car and searched for her. “Honey, what’s this big experiment about?”

“It’s a study of the amount of pesticides in fruits and vegetables.”

That would explain the two big bags of groceries. By the time he got the food on the kitchen island, he found Grace setting up a mini chem-lab on Steve’s dining room table: a mortar and pestle, a few beakers, a glass rod, test-tubes. 

All her movements were careful and precise. She was excited and engaged with the experiment. He grinned like a proud peacock. Then he bit his bottom lip when Grace pulled out a tripod stand and a burner with eager eyes.

“What’s that for?” 

“After I cut up each vegetable, I have to add alcohol to each one then heat it up until it evaporates.”

“Okay.” Danny poked around one of the boxes until he found the safety goggles. “Let's try not to blow up Uncle Steve’s house in the process.”

***

They in fact did not blow up Steve’s house. 

But chopping up fruits and vegetables and testing ten million different kinds took forever. The clean-up also took a while and by the time they were done, Danny was beat.

Grace sat in the loveseat and Danny on the sofa as he considered dinner. He checked his cell phone for the dozenth time with a frown, but there weren’t any messages.

“Is the stakeout dangerous?”

The question caught him off guard. “No, honey, it isn’t.” 

“But you’re worried. I can tell.”

When did he become such an open book? His daughter read him well. Grace was intelligent and thoughtful and he would always be honest with her – within reason. “While the stakeout isn’t dangerous, it does involve dangerous people.”

“And you’re not there to back him up.”

The _him_ implied was obvious. 

A lump developed in the back of Danny’s throat, because yeah, he wasn’t there, and he was broadcasting enough concern for his daughter to pick up on. He resisted the urge to check his phone again. “Junior and Tani are his back-up. And you know when he gets home, Steve is going to want to know all about the results of the nitrogen levels you found.”

Grace beamed, then looked back at the kitchen. “I know you brought stuff for dinner, but could we order a pizza?”

It was Danny’s turn to beam. “You know what? I think that’s a great idea.”

Pulling out his cell phone, Danny called up the local pizza joint and ordered two pies. The second one was for Steve to heat up when he got home. Danny drummed his fingers on his knee when the kid on the other end cleared his throat.

_“I’m sorry, sir. That card has been declined.”_

“Excuse me?”

 _“Your card,”_ the kid said over the phone. _“It’s been declined. I, um, tried it twice.”_

Danny stood up and started pacing. “Try it again, please.”

But the kid gave him the same answer. 

No, this was not happening, this was stupid. He wasn’t even close to his limit. “Hold on.” Danny rifled through his wallet and found another credit card and rattled off the number. 

_“I’m sorry, that one doesn’t work either.”_

He ran his free hand through his hair, shaking his head. This was ridiculous. What the hell? 

But Grace was watching him and Danny had to hold his shit together. He pulled out his debit card that drew money from his checking account. Danny gave the kid the number, and sunk into the sofa in relief when the pizza guy happily told him it worked.

Dropping the phone in his lap, Danny stared at it, his brain whirling. 

“Dad?”

He plastered on a smile for Grace. “Yeah, honey?”

“What’s wrong with your credit cards?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t want you to worry about it, okay? Probably just some mix-up.”

She scrunched up her face. “Did you pay the bill?”

Danny sat up straight. “Yes, of course.” 

He’d paid all of his cards and bills on time. Even days before they were due, including the damn water, for crying out loud.

***

Danny stared at Steve’s laptop then at his phone. He could call Steve and tell him what was happening, or he could use his detective skills and investigate. 

Of course Steve was super security-oriented and rotated his passwords every four weeks. Danny pulled out the password card Steve gave him to help him decipher Steve’s current code. Using the algorithm Steve had him memorize, he used the grid of letters and numbers printed on the card and entered in the correct code. 

Bingo. 

After logging into his bank’s website Danny stared at his transaction logs for the last few months. All his online bills had been paid on time. 

He took a picture of the screen then called the customer support line for the first credit card.

***

When the sound of the key turned inside the lock and Steve walked inside his living room, Danny couldn’t get the words out his mouth fast enough.

“The banks are screwing with me, Steven. They’re screwing with me and those assholes are the reason why my water got turned off. And even if I get this all worked out, do you know how long it’ll take to fix my credit history? How it might impact future loans, the freaking _restaurant?”_

“Whoa, whoa.” Steve wrapped his fingers around both of Danny’s arms, forcing him to look at him. “Slow down and start at the beginning.”

But Danny didn’t know where to start. With what? With the number of supervisors he demanded to speak to and who treated him like an idiot? Insisting that their records were correct and the ones Danny had been staring at were not?

He didn’t quite push Steve aside as much as he broke free. He needed to pace and find an outlet for all the anger and frustration and the need to yell at morons over the phone. 

“My MasterCard, Visa and Platinum Visa cards are all in default. And how could they be in default? I don’t know, because if you look at my back activity you can see the seventy-five dollar payment that is automatically made each month for all of them. It’s always seventy-five which is double the minimum payment so I don’t get raked over the coals by interest.”

“Okay, that’s good.” Steve wandered toward the coffee table and glanced at the laptop, waving at it. “You have proof.”

Danny took a deep breath, but his heart kept racing along with his agitation. “Exactly, but do you know what those ass hats told me at the credit card companies? That I’m _four months_ behind on my payments.”

“Obviously they’re wrong.”

“Obviously.”

“And they said four months.”

“Yeah, four freaking months.”

Steve held his hands apart, his voice calm. “Like the water bill.” Danny blinked in dawning realization and Steve pointed at the laptop screen. “And four are on auto-pay. Not to mention, you haven’t gotten any late notices or missed-payment alerts.”

“Right and my credit score hasn’t changed.” Danny received e-mails whenever it went up or down.

“There you go. I bet it has something to do with your local bank.”

Danny nodded, but he was still pissed because it didn’t change the situation. “Yes, my local bank which is closed right now.”

“All right,” Steve said in the voice he used during cases and before gun battles. “Tomorrow morning we’ll take a drive to the bank and get this all straightened out. We’ll take the statements with us.”

“You don’t have a printer.”

“We’ll save it as a PDF. And before we go to the bank, we’ll go by your place and grab all your paper statements to take with us as additional evidence.”

“Yeah, that’s good.”

“Yeah?” Steve asked with a half-smile.

“Yeah.” Danny all but leaned into Steve, resting his head against Steve’s chest, all his energy gone like someone pulled out his battery.

“It’s okay. We’ll get it all figured out. I’m sorry you’re so stressed. You should have called me.”

And then the guilt hit Danny square in the chest, the adrenaline crash accompanied by feeling like a jerk. He lifted up his head. “No, I’m sorry. I…how was the stakeout?”

Danny really looked at Steve, noting the lines around his eyes, the heavy stubble framing his jaw. Steve was tired, but he’d never admit it.

“It was fine,” Steve told him. His slumped shoulders said otherwise. He was frustrated. 

“Did you get anything on Sosa?”

Steve’s released a heavy breath. “It really was a dinner date.”

Danny glanced at his watch, his eyebrows arching. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Sosa and his girlfriend really like moonlit strolls around the park.”

“Huh.” Danny looked around in confusion because they were missing someone. “Where’s Junior?”

“He already hit the sack; I don’t think you noticed with all the hand-waving.”

“I wasn’t hand-waving.” Danny gave Steve a half-smile then realized it really was late. “Look, Grace is in the other guest room.”

“That’s fine. You can sleep with me.” The words were barely out of Steve's mouth before his eyes widened, expression comical. 

Steve opened his mouth to backpedal, and Danny patted him on the arm. “It’s okay. I’ll take the sofa. I’m too wired to really sleep and I’ll wake you up.”

“Danny….”

“Seriously, thank you.” Danny meant it. He felt like Steve had talked him down from a ledge. “But, I really think I need the TV to sleep to. You know?”

Steve nodded, but it was his _I’m agreeing out loud even though I’m hurt and disappointed_ look that tore at Danny’s freaking heart. “Okay. Like I said, we’ll work this out in the morning.”

***

Anxiety robbed him of sleep. Danny spent the rest of the night thinking about bad credit reports and what would happen if the bank didn’t believe him, if he lost his temper, if Steve lost his temper. 

He kept a calm demeanor as he saw Grace off to school. She kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him. “Everything’s going to be fine, Danno.”

What kind of father was he that his daughter felt like she had to reassure him?

He refrained from unleashing his emotions on Steve during breakfast or during the car ride to his apartment. Steve kept giving him concerned looks, but Danny kept his game face on, held his head up high to keep from drowning in what-ifs.

Steve walked beside him on the sidewalk and up the steps to his place. 

But the moment Danny unlocked the door he knew something was wrong – paranoia blossomed inside his chest. He held up his fist and Steve froze behind him.

Steve pulled out his weapon. “What?”

Danny wasn’t sure. His house was too quiet. Walking inside, he squinted in the dimness of the living room and flipped the light switch.

Nothing. No light.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” His power was off.

Danny kept flipping the light switch because why the hell not?

Holstering his weapon, Steve walked inside and stood next to Danny in the dark. “Okay, this is officially fucked up.”

***


	3. Chapter 3

Danny walked around his dark apartment. With the power out, it was hard to tell if his if his landline was also turned off, but he knew deep inside the rest of his utilities were disconnected.

“Gas is out,” Steve announced from the kitchen.

Danny opened the drawer with all his current bank paperwork, gritting his teeth. 

Steve stood beside him, his lips pressed together. “This is probably all tied to the thing with the bank. Come on, let’s—”

Steve’s cell phone rang and he looked down at the screen. “It’s Hayne from DEA. I’ve got to take this.”

Danny hated being torn between work and this crap. Because his credit history was freaking important, it was the basis for everything: future loans, his ability to help support Grace. His and Steve’s future.

Danny walked outside into the sunshine as Steve finished up his call. “What’s going on?”

“Before Sosa’s date he met with two known mid-level dealers. One of Hayne’s boys took photographic evidence of the meeting.”

“Which means we can expand the scope of our warrant.” 

Sosa was a convicted felon who was now hanging out with other convicted felons. The judge would definitely allow additional surveillance now.

Steve’s cell phone rang again, but he ignored it, and slid it into his pocket. “All right, let’s go to the bank then –”

“No, no, no,” Danny argued because he wasn’t about to be a distraction. “You need to go to Judge Iona and get the new warrant.”

“No, I’m going with you to the bank,” Steve said, his tone leaving no room for argument. 

***

It took ten minutes even with their badges to get an appointment with the bank manager. Funny how this became _their_ meeting. It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Steve had been involved in almost every aspect of Danny’s life from the very day the man had conscripted him. 

Steve belonged at his side.

Linda Brooke was pleasant, attentive, and listened to Danny. She took copies of the documents he had brought with him, including his bank statements

Danny cleared his throat. “As you can see, I’ve made payments out of my checking account, but the credit card companies don’t have any records of the transactions.”

“Of course, that is very strange and I’m sorry for the problems you’re having.: Linda grabbed her computer mouse. “Let me log into your account and see what’s going on.”

“Maybe it’s the interface with the auto-pay?” Steve asked.

Danny shot Steve an incredulous look. Because really, did he just made that up? But Steve gave him a thumbs up and Danny tried to remain calm as Linda’s cheerful expression changed as she tapped on the keyboard.

Brow furrowed, Linda continued staring at the screen until she looked up at Danny. “According to our records, which I checked several times…you do not have any money in your checking or savings account.”

It felt like someone had punched Danny in the gut. He opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. The shock on his face must have been apparent because Linda pulled out a water bottle from somewhere and handed it to him. Gripping it, Danny didn’t even bother unscrewing the cap.

“Excuse me, Linda,” Steve said, his voice diplomatic. “How can that be? As you can see from our print-outs, Danny had money in the bank last night.”

“Yes, I understand. But I’m showing no activity in…” She shook her head. “I’m showing zero activity. I really don’t understand. It’s like you never deposited any money into this account and no money has ever been withdrawn.”

“That makes zero sense,” Steve said.

“I agree. And I have no answers, and I apologize for that. What I can do is launch an investigation and get someone from Cyber Crimes to look over the account.”

“And in the meantime?” Steve asked.

“I apologize, but in the meantime, there isn’t much I can do.”

***

Danny walked outside and stared at the sky. What the hell was happening?

“Danny?”

He heard Steve’s voice, but his thoughts were unfocused. He was walking aimlessly outside in the bank parking lot.

“Come on, Danny. Look at me.”

Danny glanced up at Steve, who studied him with an expression of utter determination and concern. “There you go. Hey, drink some of this water.”

Steve handed him a bottle of water, which was funny because he thought he’d already had one in his hand. “Um, thanks.” Danny took a few sips, his thoughts gathering into a cud of dread. He squinted at Steve. “Am I broke?”

“No, you’re not.” Steve held onto both his shoulders. “You are not broke. Obviously there’s been a big glitch….”

“You call becoming broke a glitch?”

“Or you’re a victim of a cybercrime.”

“Has anyone else reported having their bank records wiped clean?”

Steve worked his jaw back and forth. “Not yet, but I’m sure they’re going to look into this and it will be worked out. I promise.”

“Can you promise it’ll get worked out in the next few days, because I’m freaking penniless, Steve. I have no money. Do you know what that means?”

“I know it’s temporary, and I know you’re going to be okay. I’m going to make sure you are, understand? Nod your head, Danny.”

Danny nodded, but he honestly didn’t see his way through this. On some level he knew Steve was right, the bank would clear it up, but what about until then?

“All right, look. There’s nothing that can be done about this right this second. When we get to HQ, I’ll make some calls, get some federal experts on this to assist the bank. We’ll file a fraud report.” Steve gripped Danny’s shoulder. “We’ll get ahead of it.”

“Yeah, okay.” Because what else could he do?

***

Driving with the windows open helped clear Danny’s head. He’d been appreciative when Steve had lowered them, the fresh air on his face helping to reduce the fog inside his head. And he was grateful at the speed at which Steve used his contacts at the Hawaiian Bureau of Investigation. 

Steve’s influence and reach within other agencies was impressive. Then again, their team had thwarted enough terrorist threats people answered the phone when he called. 

An agent arrived in less than half an hour.

Steve stood in the doorway as Agent Woll explained what she required to launch a fraud investigation. “I’ll need to confiscate all your mobile devices and personal computers to analyze for evidence.”

“You think someone could have touched any of those things without me knowing about it?” Danny asked. 

“It’s possible.” Woll pointed at Danny’s laptop. “We’ll perform a forensics exam and go over your hard-drive bit-by-bit for malware, sniffers, or anything that could have stolen your data and security passwords.”

It still didn’t add up for him. “But the fraud has to be from the bank’s end, right? How else do you explain my credit card problems before anything occurred to my personal accounts?”

“I can’t right now. But you know how these investigations work. We have to eliminate your computers first. We’ll also check the HPD’s payroll accounting software for a possible source. But more than likely the fraud is on the bank’s end and we’re going to work with them to see if there are any more victims to help establish a pattern.”

Woll took Danny’s laptop and sealed it inside a large evidence bag. “We also have to consider that this isn’t part of a larger crime and that you were specially targeted. Were you able to draw up a list of possible suspects?”

“Yeah, well.” Danny shared a look with Steve, whose mouth twitched. They both knew this was a real possibility. “We’ve busted a lot of bad guys in the last few years. But I wrote down a few names of people I had some particular run-ins with.”

“Run-ins?” Woll asked.

“With my fist,” Danny said, unapologetic. “Over and over again.” There were a couple of kidnappers and one child murderer who had topped the list.

“We included a well-known hacker and a few people with technical backgrounds, but almost everyone is still incarcerated,” Steve added.

Or missing. Danny wouldn’t have been surprised if Steve had begun searching for Aaron Wright, the asshole who had escaped their custody months ago.

Woll took the piece of paper Danny handed to her. 

“Do you have a timetable for this sort of thing?” Danny asked.

“There isn’t an average time table. But usually it takes a few weeks.”

“Weeks?” Danny had just gotten paid on Friday and they were paid twice a month. 

“I’ve already got an appointment with Human Resources about cancelling Danny’s direct deposit and seeing if he can get a paper check.”

Steve was already five steps ahead on this and Danny was both forever grateful and slightly annoyed with himself for not being more proactive. 

Agent Woll excused herself and Steve shook her hand. “Thank you again. I owe you one.”

“Just call us even, Commander,” she said with a wave.

***

 

The case. Danny needed to focus on the investigation, immerse himself in his work. 

He gathered Junior, Tani, and Lou to review Oscar Sosa’s previous operations on the West Coast to study how he’d run previous smuggling rings. 

“Okay, we’ve got the scope of the warrant extended,” Steve announced, returning from court. “And we’ve identified two of the men Sosa met with the other night.” 

Bingo. This was what Danny needed. “We’ve got a lot of moving parts. Sosa met with two local dealers and we can add his two co-workers to our surveillance so we can identify their roles in the smuggling ring.” 

Steve nodded. “The DEA said they would cover the local guys, and we can put 24-hour surveillance on Sosa, including wiretaps,” he said, directing his comment toward Danny.

Danny gave him a silent clap.

Junior looked between Steve and Danny. “Are we going to watch three different people?”

“At first, yes,” Steve replied. “We have to cast a wide net, then decide if we can eliminate any subject. In the meantime, each person of interest represents a piece of the puzzle in this smuggling ring.”

Tani crossed her arms, her expression puzzled. “How do we get cameras and bugs in place?”

Lou took a slow drink of his coffee. “Someone has to go in and hide them.”

Tani shared a look with Junior, and Steve grinned. “I think this is a good time for the rookies to gain some experience.”

***

Danny decided he would research the jackets of the two dealers Sosa met with yesterday while Steve planned out the execution of the surveillance. He dug through files the DEA had collected on the size of the local operations, at what type of money would be involved….

But it was hard to focus on the date when his brain wouldn’t allow him. He pressed a hand to his chest to help with the tightness there. He took a gulp of water, licking his lips, trying to focus on graphs and arrest records.

He had to re-read the same paragraph three times, and fuck, all Danny wanted to do was concentrate.

There was a knock on the door and Danny looked up as Steve walked inside. “We’ve got the surveillance ops planned.”

“You know they’re not ops, right?”

“What else would you call them?”

Danny actually couldn’t think of anything. 

Steve jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m going to call in a lunch order, why don’t you pick—”

“I don’t need charity. I still have some cash in my wallet.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m buying for the whole team—”

“Which is like a big neon sign that you’re trying to cover it up with such generosity.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “I do have an expense account.”

Danny rolled his eyes. His cell phone rang and he frowned when he saw who it was. “Yeah, Uncle Vito, what’s up?”

_“Hey. Look, I’ve um, got some bad news….”_

Danny sucked in a defeated breath. Because what now? “I’m putting you on speaker.”

_“Yeah, so the electrician and his crew just walked out. Apparently the check you gave them as a down payment bounced.”_

Danny cradled his face into his hands. Because no, fucking _no._ The restaurant was separate from his personal account. He and Steve both deposited into it monthly, what the ever loving hell?

***

They drove to the restaurant in a haze of recrimination, and once Danny finished beating himself up, the guilt was replaced with anger and anxiety. 

“Are you sure, Steve?” Danny demanded. “Did you double-check?”

“I did, Danny. There are no red flags on any of my cards or bank accounts. I put fraud alerts on all of them, and I’m having Tani, Lou, and Junior doing the same.”

“Okay, good, good, because whatever is going on, I don’t want it to affect you, too.” Except it had. All of the money Steve had put in the joint business account was gone.

The car had stopped moving and all Danny could do was obsess over the fact that Steve had lost thousands of dollars.

He couldn’t breathe. Again. Steve reached over in his seat and placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Come on, we’re here.”

When they got out of the car, Steve walked around the vehicle until he was next to Danny, a hand on his elbow this time, encouraging Danny to keep moving. 

They entered the restaurant together, surveying the chaos from the unfinished work. Missing ceiling tiles, sheet rock that needed to be repaired after it had been exposed to replace the wiring. It was a mess. 

“Where’s Uncle Vito?” Steve asked, walking around.

Glancing at the bar, Danny grabbed a piece of yellow leaf paper. _“Boys. I had to run some errands. Will be back in the morning.”_

Danny balled up the piece of paper and threw to the ground, his blood roaring in his ears. A four thousand dollar job ground to a screeching halt, a set of repairs that had to be completed before any other work could take place -- and Vito had just left.

“I can’t believe this. First my credit cards bounce, then my checking account. Then the money you put into this disappears, and oh, the restaurant, our _retirement_ together, is shattered, because we can’t even get the wiring to work….”

“Danny.”

“No, don’t Danny me.” Because he was just getting going. “You obviously don’t grasp how screwed up this situation is, how fucked I am, how fucked you’re going to be if this keeps continuing. Bad things tend to follow me around, then they grow into these awful bombs of collateral damage, and start impacting the people I care about the most and ….”

Danny bit his lip, his chest heaving at the words that had left his mouth. But it wasn’t like his feelings for Steve were top secret. 

Steve stepped forward and paused like he was trying to control something impulsive. Danny knew that look in his eye, wanting so much to help, to reach out and touch….

Danny closed the distance between them. Reaching up to cup Steve’s jaw, Danny kissed him. Steve’s lips went from soft and tender to hard and needy. A surge of longing rose inside Danny’s chest. Danny moved closer, wrapping his hands around Steve’s back, opening Steve’s mouth with his tongue, pulling Steve closer. Holding onto him.

Steve was all muscle and coiled strength. And Danny couldn’t get enough, his heart racing, because God, he’d been craving this for days. Danny’s hands roamed down Steve’s arms, behind his shoulders and across his back.

It’d been a couple of months since he’d allowed himself this kind of pleasure. And Steve, damn, he was kissing Danny like he needed him to breathe. 

Danny brought one hand to the back of Steve’s head, carding it through his growing hair, pulling Steve’s mouth even firmer onto his own. 

He had to take a breath and he pulled his mouth away, panting.

Steve pulled Danny closer, wrapping his arms around him, holding him tight. “I promise you, I promise everything will be okay. Do you believe me? I _promise_ you.”

And despite Danny’s pessimism and understanding how the world worked sometimes, he held onto Steve's promise, leaning into to him. “Yeah, I believe you.”

***


	4. Chapter 4

 

Danny was often accused of not having a positive attitude, but people confused negativity and pessimism. He was a realist. People did not want to hear about your difficulties; money was the currency in a black and white world.

His rent was due next week.

If he stayed at Steve’s, he could put off paying the utilities since they were already cut off. But he couldn’t get kicked out of his apartment, the home where his children slept.

He could call his folks, but he didn’t want them to worry, not after getting shot and the 24-hour news cycle covering every island threat. There was no way he’d add one more stressor….

Wiping a hand over his face, he stared at his borrowed laptop, at the due date for his car insurance and car payment. He growled in frustration. It’d been five days since his personal assets had been wiped out along with his and Steve’s joint account for the restaurant -- a restaurant leaking money like a sieve while it went unrepaired. 

Danny sank into the sofa of Steve’s living room. Steve had gone out for a run after another day of coordinating with the DEA on top of the team dealing with the Robbery Division after six mansions in eight days had been robbed. 

Steve. Danny’s thoughts drifted toward him when he wasn’t expecting . Steve who had bought food for the last few days and covered his new cell phone bill. 

And Danny was supposed to be looking out for Steve’s stress levels. He snorted. “Yeah, you’re doing a great job of that.”

The door opened and closed, and Junior walked inside carrying groceries. He had six bags, three in each hand. 

“Hey,” Danny said, standing . “Let me help with those.”

Danny grabbed a few before they slipped from Junior’s grasp and brought them into the kitchen. “Jeesh, did you buy half the store?”

“I wanted to stock up for the weekend.”

“Yeah, well, there are three mouths to feed.”

Junior ducked his head and Danny felt guilty. He wasn’t trying to make the kid feel bad. “So, you know, Steve has this thing about plastic bags, right?”

Based on Junior’s sheepish expression he was well aware. “I still bought organic.”

“If you don’t tell, I won’t tell.”

Junior laughed and Danny helped him put all the food away before the two returned to the living room. 

Danny grabbed the remote and put a basketball game on since he knew Junior enjoyed watching hoops. Junior took the recliner and slumped there in his t-shirt and shorts.

“I’m surprised you’re not swimming, or running, or trying to do a thousand push-ups.”

“Oh, I get up early in the morning to work-out so I don’t, you know, bother you or Commander McGarrett.”

“How would you bother us?”

Junior squirmed in his seat. “By being…awake when you got up?”

“We don’t wake up together.”

“Okay.”

Danny wasn’t fond of misconceptions. “I sleep in the guestroom.”

“I’m just saying…you don’t have to…I mean….”

“If Steve and I wanted to sleep together, believe me, we wouldn’t tip-toe around it just because you were in the same house.”

Junior sat up straight in the love seat. “Yes, sir.”

“And you don’t have to _sir_ me; we’ve talked about this.”

“Yes, sir, I mean...yeah.”

But Junior still looked like he had something on his mind and Danny had learned by now if he didn’t give the SEAL permission to speak freely, the kid would keep it to himself. “Okay out with it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Words are sacred; use yours.”

“It’s just, don’t you think...I mean, don’t you like Commander McGarrett?”

“Yes, I do.” 

Danny had kissed Steve and it’d felt amazing and right, but it was also during a moment of stress. It was a pattern they kept falling into and that wasn’t fair to Steve or to himself. Danny had made too many poor relationship decisions because his heart had been on his sleeve. 

“And you think he’s attractive?” Junior asked.

He looked at Junior with a straight face. “I think he’s very attractive, don’t you?”

Pink flushed Junior’s cheeks. “Well o f course…I mean, yes. As in….”

Danny didn’t mean to laugh but it felt good. Junior’s hero-worship was sweet. How could it not be? Steve gave the kid a home, a job, and purpose. A family. Not to mention the whole SEAL thing. Danny wondered if Junior and Steve were able to bond in a way that Steve couldn’t with Danny.

“Oh, by the way, I didn’t have a chance to give this to Commander McGarrett today, so here.”

Danny took the envelope and opened it. He blinked in confusion. “Why are you handing me a hundred dollar bill?”

“For the thing.”

“What thing?” 

“For your bills?”

“My bills.” Danny stared at the money, embarrassment coloring his cheeks. “As in a hand-out?”

“No, sir.”

But what else would you call it when it was done without consulting him? “Did Steve take a collection plate around and send it out to all of HPD?”

“No, sir,” Junior stammered. “It’s just from the team.”

Danny rubbed the money between his fingers, thinking about how many hours it took to earn it. “Did everyone give me a hundred dollars?”

“Commander McGarrett didn’t have a dollar amount in mind, although he had a goal.”

“A goal? Did he have a bar graph as well?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I…I live here for free and I wanted to help out.”

Every fiber of his being wanted to hand it back, but Danny knew it would be rude. Instead he inhaled and exhaled slowly, almost crumbling the money in his hand. “Thank you. When this fraud gets all cleared up, and I have access to my funds again, I’ll pay you back.”

Junior waved his hand and Danny knew no one else would accept him returning it. 

Steve banged open the door and hurried inside. “Hey,” he said in between breaths. Then he took his pulse. 

Normally seeing Steve all sweaty in a sleeveless shirt and shorts would send his heart racing, but Danny was still grappling with too many emotions.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Steve said after taking off his shoes in the corner.

But Danny didn’t want to wait. He followed Steve up the stairs as he headed toward his bedroom. Steve turned around and quirked an eyebrow. His lips curved into a mischievous smile. “Yeah?”

“Look, I know you mean well, but don’t collect money on behalf, okay? I don’t want people feeling sorry for me.”

“People don’t feel sorry for you. You’re a victim of a crime, and you need some help.”

Even the beads of sweat in Steve’s hairline couldn’t distract him. “Yes, I’m aware of that. But let me handle it, all right?”

“But you would wait until the last possible second; your rent is due in two days.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Danny snapped.

Nothing kept Steve McGarrett from making his point. “It takes more than two days to organize –”

“No, stop. Okay? Please stop.” Danny looked down to collect his thoughts, struggling to put them into some sort of order. “If you have to organize it like a secret mission, then don’t. Ask first.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay.”

“Good.”

Steve gave him a curt nod and headed inside his bedroom. A wave of guilt stirred inside Danny’s belly and he bit his lip. “Steve, hey….”

Steve turned around and looked at him with a wary expression. Danny hated the fact that Steve was looking at him that way.

“Thank you. I know your heart was in the right place. It’s just… Danny’s whole body slumped along his spine. “My father got laid off once. It took six months before he got a new contract. It was rough, you know?” 

Softness replaced all the hard lines of Steve’s face. “Yeah, I get it. I’m sorry if I crossed a line.”

“No, babe, I mean…just ask in the future? We talk to each other, you know?”

“Most of the time,” Steve said. He cleared his throat and gestured at his room. “I really need to take a shower.”

“Steve….”

The door to Steve’s bathroom closed behind him and Danny stood there too drained to go after him.

***

“You’re following too close,” Danny warned from the passenger seat of the car.

“I’m four cars back.”

Steve’s reassurance did nothing to calm Danny’s nerves. After ten painstaking days they had identified Oscar Sosa’s crew, including the man in charge of transportation. Tani had posed as a food inspector, planting a listening device at one of the stands in the fish market used to conduct business. Using fishing boats was the perfect cover for transporting drugs.

Now they needed him to lead them to the crew who would be smuggling the drugs to larger vessels at sea. Then the DEA could keep an eye on them while he and Steve focused on the leadership.

If Steve didn’t give them away by his driving.

Danny bit his tongue when Steve swerved in and out of a lane. Danny still felt bad about giving Steve a hard time for trying to alleviate Danny’s financial strains. But this whole thing had brought up bad memories of when he was eight years old, being bullied at school for being in the school reduced lunch price program, and his father waiting every month for his unemployment check. His mom crying at night.

But that was a long time ago.

Danny took the money collected by the team, paying his rent and making his car payment. It was a bittersweet pill to swallow. Steve had been there for him every step of the way although during the last few days there’d been less touching, like Steve was holding back, creating distance between them. Self-protection. 

In one more day he could at least get a paper check to cash at the bank and contribute to things like food and bills. Maybe he’d start feeling normal again, and less snappish, especially toward Steve. 

Steve swerved from one lane to another.

“Seriously, babe, you’re going to spook them.”

Danny’s cell phone rang and he looked down at it in trepidation. There’d been no luck on his case and he wasn’t sure if he could take any more non-progress reports. He didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

_“Detective Williams?”_

“Speaking.”

_“This is Lieutenant Sanger in Major Crimes. I was wondering if you have a second?”_

Danny kept an eye on the road as Steve drove toward the docks. “I’m actually in the middle of tailing a suspect.”

_“Of course. I was wondering if you could help me on a case I’m working on. Maybe we could make an appointment?”_

“Concerning what case?”

_“Jose Rodriquez.”_

Danny wracked his brain over that one. “He was a suspect in a homicide.”

_“Yes. It turned out he wasn’t involved, but you popped him for possession.”_

“Right.”

_“Anyhow, I know you’re busy, but it’d really help me out if we could discuss his case. It might be connected to one of mine.”_

“Yeah, sure. Maybe later this week? Thursday sound good?”

 _“Could we make it sooner? I’m kind of in a bind. How about this afternoon, around three o’clock?”_ Sanger asked.

“Sounds good,” Danny said, ending the call.

“What was that about?” Steve asked, turning his head to look at him.

“About an older case. It was during one of your week-long reserve drills.”

Steve eased off the gas as they neared the docks that served the largest tuna and ahi fishing boats. “We might have to start following on foot.”

“And here I am without my fishing gear.”

That earned him a smile as Steve pulled into a parking spot. “Don’t worry, we’ll blend in.”

***

“I smell like fish, Steven. Like smelly, icky, oily fish.”

The front of Steve’s blue shirt was stained from being smeared in tuna and he glared at Danny like he might use one of his ninja moves on him and then hide his body. Although everyone would be able to find it because of the horrible smell.

Steve doubled down on his defense. “We had no choice, we had to hide behind that fish monger’s stand or we would have been seen.”

Everyone scattered out of their way as they walked down the halls of HPD. “You are getting my car professionally cleaned,” Danny huffed. 

“Hey, now we have the names of the fishing boats being used in this operation. The pieces are coming together.”

Once Danny entered the shower stalls, he grabbed a towel and tossed it at Steve’s head. “You’re taking more than a three minute shower.”

Steve sniffed at his shirt and wrinkled his nose. “Maybe you’re right.”

***

By the time they both got rid of the awful fish smell and changed clothes, Danny was ready for lunch. 

“We’re burning those clothes and you’re adding it to that newly found expense account you claim you have,” Danny said over his shoulder.

Steve’s hair was all spiky from the shower and he carried a black trash bag with the offensive remains of their clothes. He pointed at Danny’s office. “Looks like you’ve got a visitor.”

Danny looked over to see a guy sitting in the seat in front of his desk. “Oh yeah, the dude from Major Crimes said he needed to touch base with me on something.”

It could be that he was just freshly showered, but the way Steve’s black t-shirt clung to all the lines of his body, showcasing his muscles, was damn distracting. Funny how he was able to ignore Steve when he was in the shower stall and now Danny wanted to climb him like a tree.

And of course Steve caught him staring, but unlike the last few times, he didn’t share in Danny’s staring. He was more guarded. Danny didn’t blame him after all the mixed-signals. It was something he promised to rectify as soon as he had time enough to think.

Tearing his gaze away, Danny focused on his guest. “Why don’t you update the team about our fish adventure and I’ll talk to this guy.”

Steve nodded and went toward his office, casting backward glances over his shoulder as he left. 

***

“Hi, I’m Detective Danny Williams,” he said, offering his hand.

“Lieutenant David Sanger.” The other cop shook Danny’s hand. “Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice.” 

Sanger sat down in the chair opposite of Danny’s desk. He was in his late 40’s, tall and wiry with slicked back combed hair. He came across more as an analyst than a cop, but Danny didn’t really care.

“I don’t want to waste too much of your time.” Sanger pulled out a case file from an attaché case and laid it against his folded knee. “I wanted to talk about Jose Rodriquez.”

“Sure.” After Sanger’s phone call, Danny’d had time to recall most of the details of the case. “He was a suspect in a homicide. I executed a search warrant for his apartment to look for the murder weapon.”

Sanger glanced at his notes. “A Smith and Wesson MP 9.”

“Yes.” Danny went to pull up his case notes, but forgot he no longer had his computer. “And during the search of his apartment I discovered two kilos of heroin.”

“In the air conditioning vent in the bedroom.”

“Correct.” Danny watched Sanger flip through a copy of the case file, suspicion stirring in his gut. “What’s Major Crimes investigating?”

“The heroin you found? Were you the only one in the room at the time?”

Danny didn’t point out that Sanger evaded the question. “Yes. My partners Lou Grover and Tani Rey were in the living room with Rodriquez.”

“And you bagged the heroin and handed it over to the forensics officer? Um, Officer Westner?”

“Correct.”

“Officer Westner left the job a few months ago for unspecified reasons. Is that also correct?”

Danny sat up in his chair and stared at Sanger, who stared back without blinking. “You want to tell me what his is really about?” 

Sanger sat back against his chair and studied Danny like he was a very interesting insect. He cocked his head to one side. “These are just routine –”

“You know how many times I’ve used that same line? Because I’m not buying it.” Danny recognized the coy tactics of Internal Affairs and it made him livid. How many times did he or someone from the team have to deal with these assholes?

“The heroin recovered during the Jose Rodriquez case was reported stolen from the narcotics evidence facility two years ago.” Sanger flipped his file closed. “I just wanted your account on how it got into your possession.”

“You mean Jose Rodriquez’s possession, right?” Danny breathed through his nostrils to calm the raging fire inside.

Sanger smoothed down his tie, removing a stray piece of lint. He didn’t look up when he asked his next question. “Of course. Do you have your chain of custody notes from the case?”

“I’d have to retrieve them from the case file room.”

“Yeah, I went by there today.” Sanger finally lifted up his head to give Danny eye contact. “Surprisingly it’s missing. I had the clerk check for all copies of all the logs for the last six months. You busted Rodriquez six months ago, right?”

“About that,” Danny said between gritted teeth. He knew better than to show his agitation. It would be like pour blood in shark-infested water.

“If you had your personal case notes that would definitely prove more than helpful.”

“I don’t have my laptop right now.”

“Right. Well, the clerk said he’d have those logs for me by next week.” Sanger rose to his lanky frame. “Thank you for your time. I know you’re busy with another high-profile case. Always saving the islands, right?”

“Yes, because it’s my job.”

“And word around the office is that you’ve been having some strange money issues as well. I hope those get worked out as soon as possible.” Sanger piled his notes back into his attaché case. “I’ll show myself out.”

In the ten seconds it took for Sanger to leave, Danny jumped out of his seat and looked for something to toss off his desk. Seriously? He did not need this bullshit, not right now, not on top of everything else. 

He watched the door open and Steve walk inside. He wrinkled his brow. “What was that all about?”

“Oh, you know, nothing much. Just Major Crimes aka Internal Affairs sniffing around a six month old case involving stolen heroin.” Danny paced beside his desk, shaking his head. “Because this is all I need, right? IA over my head, implying that my fraud problems could be connected . Like I’m dirty or….”

Danny spun around in a freaking circle because Steve was blocking the door and Danny really needed to go outside and yell and scream and maybe kick something.

“Danny.” Steve placed his hands on Danny’s shoulders like he’d done so many times before. “Danny.”

“Yeah,” Danny said, stilling at Steve’s touch.

“I think we need to switch gears and tackle this thing head-on before it gets any worse. IA wouldn’t have sent someone here unless they were hiding a lot more cards.”

The idea scared the shit out of Danny. Internal Affairs could rip apart his career. “What about the Oscar Sosa case?”

“As of right now, nothing is as important as what’s happening to you. You’re the team’s number one priority. You understand?” Steve might have phased it like a question but Danny recognized that laser locked-and-loaded focus of Steve on a mission. 

Danny licked his lips and resigned himself to a lot more scrutiny and sleepless nights. “Yeah, I understand.” Fuck.

But where the hell did they begin? How much worse would it get before it got better?

***


	5. Chapter Five

***

 

While Danny didn’t have his laptop, he still had his Evidence Action Books which contained all his handwritten notes from every crime scene. By the time he went to the team’s personal storage unit downstairs and found the correct one, everyone except Junior had gathered around the surface table. Steve had even rolled in a portable white board for taking notes. 

It touched Danny’s heart that everyone had already switched gears. Tani and Lou had inserted flash drives with their case notes so they were up on the screen.

“Okay,” Steve said grabbing a black erasable marker. “Lou and Tani brought Junior and I up to speed on the Jose Rodriquez bust.”

“Yeah, there isn’t much to tell.” Danny nodded at Lou and Tani. “We were searching for a murder weapon and I found two kilos of Mexican brown in the air conditioning vent.”

“And Tani and Lou were in the living room,” Steve stated, listening.

“Yeah. CSU was on the scene. I called Officer Westner over and he watched me bag and tag the heroin.” There wasn’t anything remarkable about the interaction that Danny could recall. “Westner then took over the chain of custody.”

Steve starting drawing a timeline. “But Lieutenant Sanger says the heroin was stolen two years ago.”

Yet Internal Affairs was sniffing around because it’d been stolen from HPD two years prior. 

Did they think Danny was involved in the original theft? Then what? Then he supposedly planted it at a new crime scene?

It didn’t make sense.

Lou crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head in annoyance. “All Internal Affairs has is a missing log and a missing CSU Officer.”

“Why do you say Westner is missing?” Tani asked.

“Because if they knew his whereabouts, he’d be in custody,” Lou said.

“But for what?” Tani glanced at everyone around the table in confusion. “The drugs were stolen two years ago. What does that have to do with today?”

It was the same question that had been burning through Danny's thoughts for the last hour.

“Obviously Internal Affairs has something else and this Sanger guy came to feel Danny out,” Lou said. “Those IA birds always like to rattle the cage to see a reaction.”

“Isn’t the timing suspect?” Tani looked at the whiteboard where Steve had been busy putting things into columns. “I mean. Even if Danny is some type of mastermind by stealing drugs then re-using them again to bust Rodriquez, what tipped them off and put them on Danny’s trail?”

Steve narrowed his eyes at the board and tapped his marker against it. He stepped back, brow furrowed. 

“This has to be connected to my financial fraud.” Danny locked eyes with Steve. “But that means whoever has been screwing with my personal funds also has the ability to create an Internal Affairs investigation.” 

It was a huge, scary jump in logic, but Danny’s gut told him it made sense. 

Steve had a familiar glint in his eye: all the mental gears in his head were moving as he contemplated this theory. “The sophistication and money needed to pull of the bank fraud means we’re talking about someone with deep pockets and connections. Destroying your finances is vindictive.”

“Not to mention requires patience,” Lou commented. “I mean, why wipe all your money away when they could just shoot you?”

“Yeah, done that, bought the t-shirt.” 

Danny shook his head. Of course some asshole wasn’t content with normal revenge; no, they wanted to destroy his life. 

Back to square one. He and Steve had already combed through their files. They needed to dig deeper.

“Whoever this is not only has hacker-dark web type connections, but also leverage inside Major Crimes and their Internal Affairs division,” Danny said. 

“You think Sanger could be on the take?” Lou asked. 

“I don’t know what I think about Sanger,” Danny said staring at Steve’s white board again. “He could be dirty or he could be an honest cop being fed breadcrumbs.”

 

His cell phone rang and he looked at Grace’s caller ID. “Hey, honey, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

_“I know,”_ Grace answered. _“But I’ve got that museum field trip today and mom forgot to give me money for it.”_

Danny glanced at his watch. “Aren’t you already on the field trip?”

_“Yeah. My teacher said she’d cover the fee, but um, she kind of needs it before the weekend.”_

And today was Friday. “How much are we talking about?”

_“Forty.”_

Danny stared at his phone before placing it back to his ear. “For a museum?”

_“It’s a special exhibit and plus the IMAX film and the –”_

“Yeah. Yeah. Look, I get my check today. I’ll go cash it during my lunch break and meet you at the museum when the field trip is over and give you the cash. Okay?”

_“Cool. Thanks, Danno.”_

Danny sighed. 

“What’s going on?”

Danny looked over to see Steve standing next to him. “I need to go back to the bank.”

“Well, I’m still waiting on Junior to come back from HPD. I sent him over to get dirt on Sanger from Duke. And I’ve sent Tani and Lou to work with Jerry on narrowing down some leads from the dark web. Someone had to have hired a highly skilled hacker. Hopefully, there’s a trail.”

“You think bad guys just put an ad out for evil geeks?”

“How else do they get hired?’

Danny conceded the point as he went to his office and grabbed his paper check. Danny didn’t bother arguing about Steve tagging along. It was about accepting certain inevitable facts.

***

The customer service agent greeted Danny and Steve as they entered the bank and must have informed the bank manager they were there. Linda Brooke went to the far right teller window and personally helped them.

“While I cannot go into specific details, rest assured that our internal investigators are working alongside two FBI agents into your case,” she said with a bright smile.

“Thank you.” Danny handed over his check and his driver’s license. “I appreciate it.”

Linda typed his information, her smile fading as she stared at her screen. It felt like djà vu.

“What?” Danny demanded. He studied Linda’s face. “This is a Federal State Employee check. It has the seal and –”

“It’s not that, Detective Williams’s.” Linda cast a nervous glance at him. “It’s just when I entered your license number, it triggered a security alert.”

“Of course it did,” Danny said with a sigh. “It’s probably from the credit fraud alert we—”

“No, not that. Um, it’s a Homeland Security Alert.” Linda bit her bottom lip. “I’m so sorry, Detective, but it says you’re wanted for… domestic terrorism.”

Danny’s his lower jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

“Obviously it’s false,” Steve stated. 

“I agree,” Linda said without argument. 

Danny’s brain was still trying to catch up with his thought process. “Are you saying that there’s a BOLO out on me?”

“I don’t know what BOLO is,” she admitted. “But we do get federal alerts for high level security threats. It’s a program that was created after 9/11.”

“Okay, so whoever has targeted you is escalating.” Steve was calm, focused, like somehow this piece of news slotted into the puzzle in his head. “When we return to HQ, I’ll alert our federal counterparts and ensure this doesn’t cause us further problems.”

_“Further_ problems?” Danny felt his eyebrow rise to the top of his forehead. “Like being wanted for terrorism?” No, no, he didn’t have time for this, he had things to do. “I need to get this money to Grace. Let’s just go and –”

Linda wasn’t done with the bad news. “I’m sorry Detective, but I can’t cash your check with the security alert attached to your identification.”

“But you know I’m –”

She held up her hands. “I know, but I can’t override it and as the manager, I’m not allowed to break bank rules even if I’m aware of its fraudulent nature.”

Eating, breathing, putting food on the table. Working and getting paid was a cog in the machine of life. Not doing so made him feel off-kilter, lost. He pointed at his check. “I need to cash this.” 

“I’m sorry....”

“What if he signs it over to me?” Steve asked. 

“Again, I apologize, but once your identification has been flagged –”

“Just forget it.” Danny stared at his check and back up at Linda. “In fact, keep it, I obviously can’t use it.”

Danny stalked out of the bank with Steve hot on his heels.

“I can lend you the money for Grace –”

Danny whirled around at Steve. “I don’t want you to lend me anything. I want to give Grace money for her field trip. I want to be able to buy lunch and pay for my own bills. I don’t want my friends to make donations so I don’t get evicted, and I certainly don’t want to get pulled over by a beat cop and have a gun pulled on me because I’m wanted for _domestic fucking terrorism!”_

Steve held up his hands like he was talking to a twitchy suspect. Danny couldn’t take it anymore. 

“And don’t tell me to calm down, Steve. I’m not going to calm down; I don’t even know how to have calming thoughts. And don’t tell me how to breathe; I know how to breathe, okay? I couldn’t be yelling if I wasn’t breathing!”

Chest heaving, Danny paced. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take! And I know deep down that’s the point, right? That I’m giving this sadistic asshole what they want?” Danny dropped his arms to his sides, rage pumping through his veins.

Steve stood there. He didn’t yell or condescend Danny, didn’t try touching him. “Yeah, buddy. It probably is.”

Chewing on his bottom lip, Danny looked around the bank parking lot. Then he raised his middle finger in the air. 

“Feel better?” Steve asked.

“Not really.” Danny dropped his arm to his side. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“I think you might be onto something, though.” Steve got that thousand yard stare, scanning the cars and the people walking around. “What’s the point of all of this if they can’t see the results?”

Danny brushed his hand over his weapon as they walked back to the car and got inside. “Let’s go back to HQ and see if Tani, Lou, and Jerry found anything.” 

Maybe Jerry had reached out to his contacts. Hell, Danny would give Jerry whatever he needed to entice them. 

He watched Steve pull out of the parking lot and go in the wrong direction. “Where are you going?”

“To give Grace the money she needs.”

Danny could have punched the dashboard for forgetting. Whoever was after him knew how to hurt him on a personal level. Stripping him of dignity, of his ability to care for his family and himself, then striking him at work.

But who has the power to influence a police investigation and ruin his finances? And like Lou said, wouldn’t it be easier to kill him? No, they wanted Danny to squirm, to suffer…

Danny’s phone rang again. Damn it. “Hey, honey I’m sorry, I –” He stopped talking when he heard a rustling sound over the phone. “Grace?”

The rustling continued and Danny’s pulse spiked. He switched the call to speakerphone. Steve stilled in his seat, listening.

_“Where did you say we were going again?”_ Grace’s voice sounded muffled.

_“To police headquarters,”_ another voice said.

Steve pulled out his cell phone. “Jerry, get a trace on Grace Williams’s phone now.” Then he gunned the engine.

Grace said something else but Danny couldn’t make out the words. She must have had her phone inside a pocket. His blood roared inside his ears. His baby girl, his Monkey.

Lock it down. Lock it down. 

_“I already showed you my badge, Ms. Williams,”_ the man said. _“Like I said, we work with your father and he sent us to pick you up.”_

“We’re two minutes away from the museum,” Steve said. 

“Kill the sirens,” Danny told him. He started searching uselessly out the front window, the seatbelt dug into his chest. “We don’t want them to hear us coming.” 

_“Wouldn’t my dad send someone I knew?”_ Grace asked. _“Chin Ho Kelly or Kono?”_

_“They’re both busy.”_ a man replied.

God, Danny couldn’t be prouder. Grace just confirmed that the people with her were not cops. They had no idea Chin and Kono were no longer on the island.

_“Wow, a black Lexus SUV. That’s pretty.”_

Background noise and movement made it hard to hear, but there was no mistaking Grace’s scared intake of breath.

There was another blast of white noise and the phone went dead. Danny almost crushed his own phone inside his fist.

Danny couldn't breathe. He couldn’t draw air into his lungs, and a faint whirring noise kept getting louder inside his ears, like it was taking over his brain, his vision a smear of white, white noise, white-out, white, white, white.

“Breathe, buddy. In and out. Okay, Danny? Are you listening to me?”

His mouth was dry. He licked dry lips and blinked several times. 

Danny came back to himself breathing hard and fast, the whirring sound in his ears fading. His chest felt tight. “Gun it, Steven!”

“We’re here!” Steve pulled into the entrance of the museum parking lot.

Danny scanned the area and spotted a black Lexus SUV pass them as it drove toward the exit. “Steve!”

“I see it.”

Steve did a U-turn, almost cutting off a Ford Escort. He pulled in behind the SUV.

Danny pulled out his weapon, gripping it tight. “The windows are tinted.” He couldn’t see Grace. “They’re probably holding her in the backseat.” 

Steve kept close to the SUV as he put in his earpiece for his phone. “Jerry, tell HPD to hold back until my okay. We don’t want to spook these guys.”

The SUV started speeding up.

“I think it’s too late.” Danny bit his lip. “Steve….”

“I’m not going to lose them.” Steve glanced at Danny. “I promise.”

Steve pressed harder on the accelerator as the SUV flew down the street. He flipped on the sirens and lights. “We’ve got to warn these civilians.”

The SUV gunned it, heading through the red light. A sedan almost collided into the driver’s side of the SUV, but it swerved out of the way.

Steve rounded the sedan on its other side, crossing the double line before he was right back on the SUV’s tail.

“Should we set up a roadblock?” Danny yelled. The longer a high-speed chase, the higher the chance for a crash. He almost got on the radio.

Steve white-knuckled the wheel. “Not yet. I don’t want to risk them ramming through it.”

The SUV suddenly slammed on the brakes. Steve cursed, yanking on the steering wheel. Danny’s body crashed into the side of the door as they raced around the SUV on its driver’s side. They almost collided with an electric pole as the Camaro’s tires screeched to a halt.

“Steve! They’re heading down tenth!” Danny yelled. He wouldn’t let it out of his sight.

After breaking, the SUV turned and accelerated down another the street.

“I’m on them.” Steve backed up then slammed on the gas pedal. “I couldn’t risk rear-ending them.”

“I know,” Danny reassured him. He knew Steve would do anything in his power to keep Grace safe.

The SUV was three blocks ahead. Cars tried pulling off to the side to give the Camaro room, but some were not fast enough. Steve swerved around a white van, going into the opposite lane, risking a head-on collision with a fruit truck.

Danny didn’t yell at him. He just held on to the door handle. Steve was a menace on the roads, but his high-speed driving skills were as good as they were scary, his instincts and reaction time on a razor’s edge.

They went from three blocks behind to one.

The window rolled down on the front passenger side. Danny’s pulse jumped when he noticed a rifle. “Steve!”

Danny ducked as a spray of bullets hit the windshield. He could feel Steve’s head near his own, both of them using the interior of the car for cover. 

Steve popped his head above the steering wheel and another round of fire impacted the windshield.

“Danny!”

“On it.” 

They didn’t need to communicate the plan. 

Yanking the steering wheel back and forth, Steve made the Camaro a challenging target. It also made shooting at the bad guy difficult. 

“Now!” Steve shouted, sitting back up.

Danny rolled down the window and returned fire.

There wasn’t much to shoot at. The suspect kept most of his body within the car, only exposing his part of his face, arm, and shoulder. Danny aimed for the suspect’s rifle. He couldn’t risk his bullets anywhere near the rear of the SUV where Grace was probably kept.

An HPD chopper flew overhead in the air, Steve coordinated back-up via the radio as he stayed on the SUV’s tail. 

A spider web of cracks lined the windshield from several bullet impacts. Neither Danny nor Steve were wearing a vest; it was only a matter of time before a bullet struck one of them.

The asshole fired at them again.

Danny didn’t have a shot so he aimed at the passenger door and squeezed the trigger. The bad guy slumped partway out the window.

Breathing heavy, Danny scanned their surroundings. They were heading toward a shopping center and more civilians.

The SUV pulled inside the parking lot, made a hard right, and stopped. Steve slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting it.

The SUV driver side door opened and someone open fired at them. 

Danny opened his door and dived. His chest took the brunt of the impact with the ground, and he rolled over and came up to his knees. He needed to clear his side or risk an ambush.

Scrambling to his feet, Danny aimed his weapon at the SUV’s passenger side door and ran toward it. But the man leaning out of it was dead.

Steve had jumped out of his seat, using his door for cover.

The driver continued firing at Steve’s position and Danny prepared to take him from the other side.

“Steve! I need to take the rear!”

Every fiber of his being wanted to take out the driver; but Danny knew the chances of Grace getting injured with all this gunfire increased with every second.

“Now, Danny!”

Danny recognized the sound of Steve’s SIG as he fired back, giving him cover.

Running back along the side of the SUV, Danny grabbed the back door handle. “Grace!”

“Dad, don’t!” she yelled from inside the rear of the SUV.

The back door flew open, almost smacking Danny in the face. Something was tossed under the Camaro.

“Grenade!” Steve yelled.

Danny dove to the ground away from the vehicles.

The front part of the Camaro exploded.

Pain laced through Danny’s head, but he crawled on his hands and knees. The smell of burning metal and oil assaulting his senses. “Grace!” he shouted, coughing.

Wavering to his feet, the Camaro blurred into view, the hood engulfed in flames. “Grace!”

“Dad!”

Homing in on her voice, Danny found Grace crawling out of the back of the SUV. She jumped onto the ground and ran toward him. “Danno!”

Wrapping his arms around her, Danny brought Grace to his chest. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she said in between coughs “I stayed…in the back of the SUV.”

Danny dragged her around the front of the SUV, away from the dead body of the driver. His adrenaline spiked when he didn’t see his partner. “Steve!”

Danny spotted Steve on the ground a few feet from the spot he’d been using for cover. “Steve!”

He ran over, keeping Grace behind him. Careful of the flames spreading across the Camaro. Kneeling, Danny ran his hands over Steve’s body. “Babe, talk to me.”

Steve groaned. His eyes fluttered opened and he squinted up at Danny. “Grace?”

“She’s safe.” Danny sucked in a breath, trying to calm his racing heart. “Come on, can you walk?”

Danny wasn’t sure if his car might explode again. 

Steve started to sit up and sucked in a pained breath. “Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?” Danny touched the sides of Steve’s face while keeping a wary eye on the fire. 

The sound of sirens grew louder in the background.

“Think…I busted my shoulder again.” Steve cradled his right arm against his chest. “The explosion knocked the door into me…slammed me against the side of the Camaro.”

“Okay, you’ll be okay.” Danny slung Steve’s left arm around his neck. “Come on; let’s get some distance between us and this.”

Grace hurried alongside them. “Uncle Steve?”

“I’m fine…sweetheart.”

By the expression of Grace’s face, she didn’t believe him. Grace kept one hand on Danny’s arm, glancing behind her. “Did you get them all?”

“The guy…in the back of the SUV…got away,” Steve grunted in Danny’s ear.

The one who tossed the grenade. The driver and the guy on the passenger side were dead.

“This was a pro job,” Danny said, wrapping an arm around Steve’s waist to keep him steady.

Grace crowded closer and Danny shut his mouth, not wanting to scare her further. Steve grunted as Danny brought him toward a bench near a bus stop. 

Slumping onto the bench, Steve breathed heavily as he glanced at the burning mass of metal. He looked over at Danny with a dark expression, the implication of the last few minutes hitting Danny with a fresh adrenaline rush.

Whoever was after him had hired people with obvious military experience to kidnap Grace, his daughter. Men willing to risk a high-speed chase and a shootout without fear of spilling blood. 

This wasn’t just escalation; it was a terrifying vendetta.

***


	6. Chapter Six

Danny consented to an exam since it was in a room next to Grace. _A room_ being a space separated by a curtain, but it made him feel better knowing she was close. Two patrolmen stood guard in the waiting room while Junior stood off to the side at attention.

His thoughts had been going non-stop since the kidnapping, threatening to overwhelmed him. But Danny kept a lid on his emotions, his fear and anger raging beneath the surface. 

Someone had come after his family, his daughter. Hot-white fury clouded his vision. No, _no._ He couldn’t give into his emotions. Danny bit his bottom lip.

“Detective?”

A woman’s voice interrupted his dark introspection. He looked up at the nurse who had been treating him. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“You should take it easy, but there is no sign of concussion,” the nurse told Danny. “Take some Advil and make sure you make an appointment with your primary care physician.”

His head hurt, and his chest was peppered with bruises, but Danny had had worse. A psychiatrist was still talking to Grace and he hesitated about leaving her even for a minute. 

Junior seemed to sense his trepidation and he stepped forward like a sentry. “I’ll remain here if you want to check on the Commander.”

Was he that obvious? 

Danny searched for his partner, locating him sitting on an exam bed with an exasperated young ER doc. Steve still wore his back t-shirt and cargo pants, but he was sporting a new blue sling. 

“I’m serious Commander,” the twenty-something physician told him. “I can make some referrals if you need them.”

“Referrals for what?” Danny asked, walking inside. He didn’t want to hear anything about Steve needing more doctors. 

“For nothing.” The physician quirked an eyebrow and Steve glared at him. “I don’t need surgery.”

“According to your records this is your third dislocation in the last ten years. That we know of.” The doctor cleared his throat. “Once you’ve suffered a dislocation, it’s vulnerable to repeat episodes. I’m not saying you need surgery, but you need to speak to a specialist to explore non-surgical options.”

“I’ll be sure he makes an appointment,” Danny said. “In the meantime, what is his current treatment?”

“It’s okay,” Steve told the baby doc. “He’s my partner.”

“Activity modification, physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications.”

“I’ll make sure he follows orders and has a follow-up exam with an orthopedist,” Danny said. He glared at Steve.

The doc nodded and handed Steve some aftercare instructions before he exited the room. 

“How’s Grace?”

“Physically she’s fine. The on-call psychologist was with her when I left.” Danny studied the cuts on the side of Steve’s face and the bruise forming under his eye from where he must have hit the pavement. It took everything in his power to keep from reaching out and touching his cheek. “Thank you for everything back there. If we hadn’t caught up to them….”

Steve started sliding his legs to the floor. “We need to get the bodies to Noelani.” 

Danny rested a hand on Steve’s good shoulder when he wavered slightly, curling his fingers into the muscle. “Hey, give yourself a second.”

“It’s just a head rush.”

Danny knew they were both not a hundred percent, but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered anymore. Except for one thing.

Steve accompanied Danny where Grace waited for them in the corridor with Junior. Danny’s chest filled with relief at seeing her again and he pulled her into a fierce hug. 

They pulled apart and Grace wiped at her eyes. “I want to help you catch them. Ask me whatever you want. I’m ready.”

His entire being filled with pride for the second time that day and Danny wrapped his arms around his daughter again, vowing to protect her until his final breath. 

***

The hospital gave them an office so they could conduct their interview while everything was still fresh.

Steve sat in the chair beside Danny, while Grace sat opposite of them in front of a table to give a semblance of space. Junior stood in the corner with a small notebook.

“They came inside the exhibit and spoke to my teacher first,” Grace began. “They said there was an emergency, but that you weren’t hurt. They even had badges, detective shields.”

“It’s okay, sweetie.” Danny squeezed her hand. “I looked at one of them collected from the crime scene. It looked very authentic.”

“Grace, did the men say anything to you?” Steve asked her.

“No, once they forced me inside, they didn’t talk to me except to tell me to be quiet.” Grace pulled a strand of hair from her face. “They mainly talked to each other.”

“Did they mention where they were taking you?” Danny asked.

“No.”

Danny tried a different tactic. “Did they mention their names?”

“No, but the man in the back was in charge; he was telling the others what to do.”

Danny hadn’t expected that answer; he would have thought the driver. “Was he one of the men who approached you in the museum?”

“No, he was waiting inside the SUV.”

Any surveillance they could grab would only relate to the two DBs.

Grace must have sensed that she didn’t have a lot to give them. “The man in the back called his boss during the chase. He was really mad at him.”

Danny leaned forward in his chair. “Why do you say that, honey?” 

Grace squirmed. “I told him that the people chasing him were my dad, who was a cop. And that his partner was a SEAL. The bad guy got really pissed-off at the man on the phone. He wanted to know why he wasn’t warned about being pursued by a…special operator.” She scrunched her face and looked at Steve.

“Grace, did he say those two words specifically?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah. He was pissed that he wasn’t prepared.”

“Did he say anything else, sweetie?” Steve continued. 

“No, everything happened so fast. Oh wait…they sometimes yelled at each other in Spanish.

“You did great, honey. You were very brave.” Danny sensed that Grace had enough and he stood up. “I’m going to talk to these bozos for a moment then we’re going to take you to a hotel.”

“A hotel?”

Danny didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was. “Yeah, it’ll be like a vacation.”

But she was too smart than that. Grace knew it was for her security, but she didn’t argue or cry and it made Danny want to protect her from even more. 

Once Grave exited the room, Danny started pacing again, his anger a whirlwind. “So, these thugs were Special Forces.”

Junior wandered closer, his face neutral. “No one uses the term special operators unless they’ve served.”

“But if they're foreign Special Forces, they’ll be harder to track.” Steve rubbed the back of his head, wincing. “Even if they left fingerprints, they may not be in any database we can use.”

“What about your connections?” Danny asked. People owed Steve all types of favors. 

“I’ll try.” Steve shook his head. “But other nations don’t tend to share their secrets with us.”

No, but they had more evidence than during most cases. “We have two dead bodies, the SUV. We’ll pull security footage. Not to mention the ongoing fraud.” Danny walked in a circle his temple throbbing. “We’ve got to ID the person who’s targeting my family, Steve. We have to.”

“And we will.”

Danny’s heart started racing in tandem to the thumping inside his aching head. “I’ve still got Charlie and Rachel, even Stan….”

“We will protect them,” Steve told him. 

“Those were foreign SEALs after my daughter, _my daughter_ ….”

“We will protect them, do understand me?” Steve rested his left hand on Danny’s shoulder, his voice steel. “We will keep them safe and in the meantime, we’ll track the bastard that’s after you. We’ll get the whole power of the department behind this, Danny. We _will_ fix this.”

He’d always trusted Steve. This was no exception. 

***

Sometimes Danny understood Steve’s laser-focus. How Steve shut down his emotions in order to complete an objective. While Danny typically worked hard to prevent Steve from slipping into that mindset, all Danny wanted right now was to shed his feelings and build a fortress around his heart.

Standing inside an airport to see his family off to the mainland was like putting his emotions through a blender. 

Even though they were separated, Danny felt better that Stan was going with Rachel and the kids. Stan stood behind his ex-wife, one hand resting gently on her shoulder. Grace held Charlie’s hand who was oblivious to the danger. He was excited to go on a plane and couldn’t stop talking about it.

Danny tried to smile without crying. He kept telling himself that he was not abandoning his family, not sending them away because he was incapable of keeping them safe. 

Rachel didn’t yell or berate him; he was sure it was coming at a later date. He tried for reassuring. “As soon as it’s--”

“You’ll call,” Rachel said and kissed his cheek.

“Bye, Danno,” Charlie said with a toothy smile.

“Bye, buddy.” Danny bent down to kiss him again. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll look after them,” Grace told him.

“I know you will.”

Danny walked his family as far as he could until they reached security. Two members from a private security firm would board the plane with them and members of LAPD would be with them at all times.

His heart still clenched.

And it stayed clenched on his way back to the car. 

Lou waited on him inside the parking-garage, beside a patrol car. “Come on, man. I’ll take you home.”

Home being Steve’s. 

“No, I need to go to work.”

“Danny. Your child was kidnapped yesterday afternoon. You probably stayed up all night watching her, listening for any sound of distress. And when you weren’t busy tying yourself into knots over what-if’s…you were working the case from Steve’s living room.”

“Steve was also with me.” But Danny knew what Lou was driving at. “Look,” he said his voice thick. “You of all people know that I need to do this. I need to find the bastards. My family isn’t safe until I solve this case. And I’m not going to do it while I’m tossing and turning and not sleeping anyway.”

Lou sighed. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the same response McGarrett gave me.”

“He still at work?”

“What do you think?”

Steve was the one who needed some rest; he looked rough last night. “I think I’m going buy us lunch and see what progress we’ve made.” But as soon as the words left this mouth Danny realized his mistake, frustration a snarl in the back of his throat. 

He couldn’t even do something as simple as buy everyone food while they busted their asses helping him. It made him feel fucking worthless.

***

 

Danny stood in front of Steve’s office and found Steve pacing back and forth while on the phone. They had spent all of the previous night talking, Steve easing Danny’s guilt for sending his family away. Steve who worked on leads while making phone calls arranging security details for Danny’s family. 

Steve who did it all with a busted shoulder.

Once Steve was done with his call he slumped into his chair and closed his eyes, he either hadn’t noticed Danny standing there or Steve was too tired to wave him inside. It felt like his cue to open the door.

“That looked like fun.” Danny dropped a bag of sandwiches Lou had bought on the desk and tried to ignore the stab of humiliation it caused. “Here. Eat.”

Steve eyed the brown paper bag, his hand absently rubbing at his shoulder. The lines around his eyes were more pronounced and his five o‘clock shadow was dark against his skin. 

“I was able to use my contacts to identify the two DBs at the crime scene. Both were members of the Tigres, part of Honduras’ elite SWAT squad.”

Danny did a double-take. “The people who kidnapped my daughter were Honduran SEALs?”

“They’re not SEALs,” Steve said with a flare of annoyance. “But they’re hardcore. The U.S. started taking a keen interest in helping train other military forces in Latin America about a decade ago.”

“Why? I thought you guys tried to keep all your training secret?”

“It was mainly through the Defense Department, but the emphasis was conducting joint exercises to help our guys gain experience in urban combat and intelligence gathering.”

“Great, so now we’re training other countries on how to kill people more effectively.”

“The Tigres weren’t created until 2013, and my source told me the Green Berets are the most involved in their training, mainly to combat organized crime.” Steve rubbed at his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “I’m still shaking the trees to get their files. If we can pictures of his unit, maybe Grace could identify the leader.”

It was a long shot at best. 

Danny sat on Steve’s sofa. “I talked to Jerry earlier. He said there had been some chatter about hijacking bank transaction codes for an individual’s account, but then it went to a private messaging.”

Steve nodded. “Maybe Jerry can work some magic and see if he can trace who was asking around.”

“I also called my former captain at Jersey PD and he’s e-mailing me a list of people I put away who were recently paroled.” Danny stared at the unopened bag. “Are you going to eat that? You have pain meds to take.”

Steve automatically moved his right arm even though it was still in a sling and winced. Changing tactics, he pulled out a sandwich with his left hand. It took everything in Danny’s power not to help.

Danny grabbed his own food when the door to Steve’s office opened and someone barged inside.

“Commander McGarrett, may I have a word with you?”

Danny recognized Captain Hayne from DEA. He was fifty-something with salt and pepper hair and was sporting the first signs of a beer gut. 

Steve put his sandwich down and sat straighter in his chair. “Since you came in without knocking, what can I do for you?”

“What the hell happened with the Oscar Sosa case? I’ve had over a dozen local traffickers under surveillance for almost two weeks and you pull your team off your end of the investigation?” Hayne placed both hands on Steve’s desk and leaned forward. “What the hell were you thinking? Do you know how many man hours I just pissed down the drain because your unit couldn’t handle watching _three_ suspects?”

“I had to divert my resources to a more pressing case. I informed you of my decision–”

“You don’t just shift resources, Commander. You go through the proper channels, run it pass the other members of your joint operation, then wait for a decision to be made. Not waste thousands of dollars and leave your fellow officers and detectives to hang out to dry.”

Danny bit his lip knowing it would be inappropriate, not to mention undermine Steve’s authority to speak out. Instead he sat there and kept his mouth shut despite wanting to do anything but remain silent.

Despite getting dressed down by another department head, Steve kept his voice level but firm. “I made a tactical decision–”

“This ain’t the Navy, McGarrett; you’re not on the battlefield.”

Steve’s mouth thinned and the muscle along his jaw twitched, a sure sign that he was pissed, but clamping down on his emotions. When he spoke his voice was low growl. “With all due respect Captain, I did what was necessary to protect one of the members of my team. A member who just had his daughter kidnapped in broad day light by people who did not have any qualms about endangering civilians when they made a parking lot a real life war-zone.”

Hayne stood to his full height. He glanced at Danny his fiery disposition fading slightly. “Look, Detective Williams, I am very sorry for what happened to your family yesterday. If you need anything….”

“What he needs is the full weight of Five-O investigating those responsible for multiple felonies,” Steve said, standing.

“Not to mention felonies which are being investigated by IA.” Haynes must have realized his mistake by saying that out loud. He held up his hands in supplication. “Look, all I’m saying is when one of your own is under scrutiny, than perhaps it’s best to ask another division to help investigate to avoid misconceptions….”

Steve slowly pushed his chair in and walked out from behind his desk to stand toe-to-toe with Hayne. “The only misconceptions going on are the idea that I would have anyone other than Five-O back-up one of my own.”

“I appreciate your loyalty McGarrett, but we both have a job to do, and you’re not the only one with connections to the governor.”

Hayne let himself out and Danny frowned when the door slammed closed behind him.

“Steve….”

“Don’t. Danny.” Steve stared at Danny with such intensity Danny imagined newbie SEALs quivering before it. “I would do the same for Junior, Tani, Lou, or any other member of our ohana, do you understand?”

“I do. I just wanted to thank you.” Danny swallowed against all the emotions trying to boil over. “Seriously, thank you.”

***

After a night of keeping watch over his daughter and kissing his family good bye, Danny was done. Kaput. He worked with Jerry and Lou on the dark web leads that went nowhere. 

And Steve continued working his contacts on information on the men who kidnapped Grace. But had nothing.

By the time his old captain sent Danny files on all the people recently paroled in Jersey, he could barely see straight.

“Go home,” Lou told him. “And take him with you.”

Danny glanced at Steve who paced in his office again, probably getting chewed out by the governor. The whole team had tried diverting calls from Governor Mahoe’s assistant, but she finally must have gotten through.

“Yeah. Okay,” Danny said, rubbing his eyes.

“Start fresh tomorrow.” Lou nudged Danny toward Steve’s office. “And I overheard that Junior and Tani were going to get dinner and drinks so you know…you guys should have some private time and all.”

Danny was too tired to roll his eyes as he went to fetch Steve before he said something to the governor he would regret.

***

Dinner was pizza and beer. They didn’t talk about the case. He couldn’t. All Danny wanted was to turn off his brain, just for a little while. 

In fact, Danny found himself leaning against Steve’s good arm, his eyes sagging. After several moments, Danny sought out Steve’s hand and curled his fingers around it, savoring the warmth seeping into his palm. Steve squeezed Danny’s hand back. 

God, he was doing it again, seeking out Steve for comfort—yet it was the most natural thing in the world.

“We should go to bed,” Danny suggested when he neither of them had spoken a word for over ten minutes.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Danny kept a hand on Steve’s back as he slowly trudged up the stairs.He followed Steve all the way to the entrance to his bedroom. Steve turned around and looked at Danny with a frown of apprehension. 

Steve deserved so much more than Danny could offer him now, but the least Danny could do was take the first step and let Steve decide what to do next. “May I sleep next to you?” 

“Danny….”

“Look, I know. All right? Another crises, another close call. I’m fried, you’re sore and…,” Danny chest heaved. “I just want to lie next to you. I want to share the same bed and just—”

“I’d like that,” Steve said, reassuring. 

“Good.” 

Danny took off his clothes, stripping down to his boxers and his t-shirt. He set them on top of the dresser.

Steve messed with his own shirt, struggling at first. Danny moved closer, but Steve shook his head. “I’ve got it.”

Danny wanted to help, to give back in some small way after today, and after the last week of hell, but Steve had an independent streak a mile wide.

Steve removed his shirt and put back on his sling back on per his doctor’s orders, before he crawled into bed. 

Pulling back his side of the sheet, Danny laid down beside Steve, savoring the proximity. He released a heavy breath, grateful that whatever powers had protected his family, had also protected Steve yesterday. 

Closing his eyes, Danny listened to the sound of Steve breathing, the cadence relaxing him, luring him into a peaceful zone.

Danny started drifting off when Steve spoke up. "You know, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you and your family safe.”

“I know.”

Except Danny didn’t want Steve to _have to_ protect his family. Danny knew Steve saw it as his duty. But it was Danny’s responsibility, his obligation to fulfill, and he would do whatever it took to end this nightmare. 

No matter what.

***


	7. Chapter Seven

After falling asleep hard, Danny woke up every fifteen minutes until he couldn’t take it anymore. He dragged himself out of bed, careful not to disturb Steve. 

Danny glanced at the clock on the nightstand; it was four in the morning. He released a heavy breath.

Grabbing his clothes, he walked out of the bedroom and paused. Danny lingered in the doorway, watching Steve’s chest move up and down in sleep, savoring the moment. Drinking in Steve relaxed, beautiful. Knowing this, _them_ – was worth figuring out. 

Nodding to himself, Danny wandered down the hall and into the guest bathroom. If he showered and changed, he could catch a taxi. Then return to HQ before morning traffic to get a head start on the case. It wasn’t fair that everyone else had been running themselves ragged on his behalf. 

Splashing water on his face, he stared at his reflection in the mirror, at his morning stubble, at the sharp angles of his jaw and sunken eyes. At a face made haggard by someone lurking in the shadows.

Not another fucking second more.

***

Danny didn’t have the skills to look into the dark web and he would leave figuring out Honduran SEALs to Steve. But he could go through all the files his old boss had sent.

“Yes,” he said with a fist in the air. His captain had included notes from recent parole hearings, including personal data. 

There were forty parolees in the last three months. He opened up a spreadsheet and started going through suspects.

People who served over five years he entered into one column, those over ten years in another. But this felt more personal. He went through things file-by-file: those who divorced or lost custody of children, people who went bankrupt…but no , whoever was doing this had a large bankroll.

This person was dismantling his life, ruining him financially, professionally, who kidnapped his child. His nostrils flared. Did he physically injure this person, kill someone?

A knock at the door pulled him out of his thoughts. Lieutenant Sanger stood in the doorway. Danny really didn’t need this crap right now. “Aren’t you up early?”

Sanger moved inside without permission. “Six thirty in the morning isn’t that early.” He walked over and stood in front of Danny’s desk. “Why don’t we take a walk?”

“How about we don’t.”

“Come on, Detective. Don’t make me the big bad.”

“You make your living policing cops.”

“Even cops need to follow the law, especially those who are used to it not existing.”

Not only was he not in the mood, Danny didn’t have time for this. “I’m busy working on a real case.”

“Your child’s recent abduction attempt?”

Danny rose to his feet, a red-hot rage boiling to the surface. “Tread lightly, Lieutenant.”

Sanger held up his hands. “Line crossed. I apologize. But do you really think I’d enter the House of Five-O if I didn’t have something?”

Yeah, he was ending this now. “Get out of my office. Come back when you have a warrant for my arrest.”

“According to Homeland Security, I don’t have to.”

That fucking fake alert. “You know that flag is bullshit.”

“Homeland Security doesn’t take my calls, so until they straighten things out. I can take you into custody.”

Danny curled his fingers into fists until his hands started shaking. “I’d like to see you try.”

“I’m not a knock-down , drag-out brawler like you and the rest of your team. You have a Homeland Security Alert out on you. Consent to an interview and I won’t have to take you in cuffs.” Danny stepped closer and Sanger stood straighter to meet him. “I could have you in a holding cell until Homeland clears things up and it seems like you don’t have time to waste.”

He wanted to take a swing and feel his fist break the other man’s jaw. But no matter how much Danny wanted, no _needed_ , to knock Sanger on his ass, he needed to protect his family even more. And he couldn’t take any more interference. 

Danny lifted a finger in the air. “One interview.”

“One is all I need.”

***

Danny had been around the block before with Internal Affairs. One time in Jersey during a case involving a low-level politician and a real estate monger. And of course the thing in Columbia. Watching Chin suffer round after round with his past was enough to want to punch people.

He knew there was a camera behind the two-way mirror, not to mention that Sanger placed the microphone recorder on the table in plain view. It was stupid to consent to an interview without legal representation with the police union and Steve would have an aneurysm once he found out Danny went ahead alone. But he was sick and tired of being jerked around.

At least now he was facing things head on.

“Let’s get on with it,” Danny demanded.

“Direct is good.” Sanger opened his attaché case and placed a file on the desk. “Your bank accounts have been wiped out by methods unknown. Checking, savings, and the joint business account you share with Commander McGarrett.”

“I’m well aware.”

“That’s a twenty-thousand dollar hacker job.”

“Wow, that much?”

“You’ve pissed off someone with deep pockets.”

Danny crossed his arms over his chest. “And if you have any leads on the person or persons responsible for trying to bankrupt me, than by all means, please share.”

“That’s what piqued my curiosity. Why waste so much money on financial fraud?” Sanger cocked his head to one side. “Unless the person you pissed off has a reputation.”

“I’m waiting for you to tell me who with baited breath.”

Sanger slid another file across the desk. “Want to explain the off-shore account?”

Danny grabbed the slip of paper, scanning the bank record, his eyebrows arching at the amount. “A hundred thousand dollars?”

“Over a period of six months. That’s quite the windfall.”

“This isn’t real. It’s a set-up and before you tell me that you’ve heard that before then take a look at the obvious fake Homeland Security Alert on me. Or the fact that my daughter, _my child_ , was kidnapped yesterday.”

“You won custody of your daughter three years ago, retained custody of your son versus a spouse with far greater legal and financial resources.”

“Based on my character as a father,” Danny growled.

“Yes, this was substantiated by Commander McGarrett. A man whom you flew to Cambodia for. A man who rescued you from a Colombian prison. I’d say you’ve spent the last few years backing each other up, being there for one another.” Sanger slid another folder across the table. “A man who has sunk most of his savings into the restaurant you’re both opening.”

“We’ve invested equally in the restaurant.”

“Based on these records he’s invested most of his accumulated combat pay and savings into paying for labor, construction materials, even legal fees....”

Danny snapped up the file and scanned Steve’s bank records, his breath quickening at the various money transfers and withdrawals. He wiped a hand over his face, speechless.

“It’s upsetting, isn’t it?”

Danny balled up the bank statement and threw it across the room. Fuck. Why didn’t Steve tell him about this? 

“It must be hard, moving thousands of miles away, landing a job with people who really disliked you, fighting over custody of your child, obstacle after obstacle, failure after failure, but each time, your friend, the man who helped you regain legal guardianship of you r daughter, the man whom you share a special connection with,” Sanger leaned forward, “a man with recent medical scares…and your retirement together is losing money by the day….”

“It’s still losing money, if you haven’t checked.”

Sanger ignored him. “But maybe someone came along and offered you a way out, money to look the other way, plant evidence from time to time, use your influence to go after other criminals, clearing the way for a new player on the islands….”

Danny stood to his full height, every thought screaming at him to plow his fist into Sanger’s face. But deadly calm was more intimidating than rage. “Your next few words better be the reading of my rights and an official charge.”

Sanger sat back against his chair; tapping is finger along the table. “If you’re being set up, who is your top suspect?”

“I don’t know.” Danny remained standing, frustration and exhaustion making him frayed around the edges. “I was going through a list of recent parolees from back in Jersey before you dragged me down here.”

“I’d think someone with that type of pull and resources would stand out.”

Instead of falling for the obvious goad, Danny stared at Sanger. “Who put you on my trail?” 

“That’s confidential.”

Danny’s cell phone started ringing. Pulling it out, he saw Lou’s name and ignored it. The team could yell at him later.

“Was it a real person or was it anonymous?” Sanger’s smug expression gave him away. “If it wasn’t anonymous, then it must have been Rodriquez. How else would you have known to research the heroin I found at the scene?”

Sanger didn’t say a word. Danny snorted. “You believed a tip from a convicted felon?”

_God_ , he wanted to slap this asshole. But it was the first real break he had. Whoever put Rodriquez up to setting him up…wait? Danny pointed a finger at Sanger. “Did you check his visitor logs? Of course you did, who believes a criminal? It had to be someone who piqued your interest, who got you to start digging…”

Sanger pulled out another file from his attaché and dropped it on the desk. Arrogant bastard. 

Danny grabbed a copy of Rodriquez’s visitor’s log – it wasn’t very long. His phone rang it again. It was Lou again, but he was finally onto something. 

His mother, his sister, and…Hector Gomez. Wait a minute, Danny knew that name. “We just identified this guy last week. He’s one of Oscar Sosa’s crew. We think he’s responsible for money laundering for the operation.” He glanced at the date on the log. “This visit took place weeks before we even got the case.”

“Interesting, isn’t it? Sosa’s crew was on the island before anyone suspected. Then only ten days into the case your team just stopped your surveillance.”

“I was being investigating by Internal Affairs and my daughter was just kidnapped!” Danny remained cool despite the fact that inside he trembled with rage, but he wouldn’t give in , wouldn’t give this asshole a reason to put the cuffs on him. 

“That’s the part I’m still trying to figure out,” Sanger admitted. “If you were targeted because you were on the take or for some other reason. One makes you a dirty cop, the other the victim.”

Danny wasn’t going to waste his breath defending himself anymore, but something about this whole thing was off. “But Sosa’s just a broker and Gomez the money man…” That was it. Of course. “You want the boss. The leader.”

Danny threw the file on the table. “Who is he?” Because whoever was pulling Sosa’s strings was responsible for Danny’s personal hell. “Who is your suspect?” He slammed his fist on the desk. “This asshole took my little girl. My daughter, so help me God, if you don’t tell me, I’m going to shove my hand down your throat and pull the name out.”

For the very first time, Sanger wasn’t self-righteous. “We don’t know.”

A laugh bubbled up Danny’s throat. “You’re hoping that I’m guilty because then I’ll lead you to him. This is more than an IA investigation, isn’t it?”

There had to be. Sanger was just the point man trying to bring down a bigger fish, a fish that had it in for him. 

The door swung open and Lou stood in the entrance, out of breath. “Danny.”

“Lou, I’m sorry, I know you guys are probably pretty steamed about –”

“Danny.” The way Lou said his name with such utter dread, made Danny sick to his stomach.

He started sweating. Swallowing, Danny walked toward his friend, his heart sinking. “What happened?”

***

He didn’t remember getting into Lou’s truck or the drive over. Danny ignored the patrol cars parked in the driveway and on both sides of the roads leading to Steve’s house. Lou might have said something to him, but Danny didn’t remember. 

Tani waited outside by the entrance, antsy. “We’re the only ones allowed inside. The rest of HPD has remained clear.” She looked over at Danny. “Eric’s inside helping to process the scene.”

Slipping on a pair of black latex gloves, Danny walked inside Steve’s living room. He noticed more than one blood trail leading toward the door . One was heavier than the other, and based on the volume, at least one person had probably bled out.

“What do we know?” His voice sounded robotic to his own ears.

“The front door lock was stripped open by some type of tool,” Tani began. “The sliding glass doors from the lanai were broken open as well. We think at least four assailants were involved.”

The love seat had moved, though it was hard to tell by what. The coffee table had also been knocked into; one of the TV remotes had fallen to the floor. 

Junior stood front of the kitchen. He looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. He was dressed in a running shorts and a T-shirt. “I went for a jog at 0530. McGarrett was still asleep.”

Danny moved past Junior, surveying the wreck that was the kitchen. A carton of eggs was open; the remains of several were smeared all over the counter by the oven. A cutting board was covered with chopped onions and peppers. A wedge of cheddar cheese was left untouched. 

“They must’ve caught him while he was making breakfast,” Danny said.

“I was gone maybe an hour,” Junior continued his voice thick. “When I returned, I noticed the front door was open.”

The kitchen island was shoved against the sink. Several drawers were left dangling open. There were utensils and silverware all over the floor, blood splatter against the refrigerator and on the front of several bottom cabinet doors. 

“Guess we know where that blood trail began.” Danny pointed to a pool on the floor beside the oven. “This seems to be the main source.” There was a small amount on another spot on the floor.

“We bagged two large kitchen knives, a fork, and frying pan,” Junior said, speaking in that same guilt-ridden voice. 

“Four against one in a very cramped space,” Danny commented. 

Steve was trained in a variety of hand-to-hand combat methods. But it still took Danny aback whenever he witnessed Steve’s capability for violence. 

Tani stood in the doorway. “He put up one hell of a fight.”

Danny gnawed on his bottom lip. “With a freaking dislocated shoulder.” 

Steve was nowhere near fighting shape and ambushed in the middle of his own kitchen. And he’d still give n his assailants’ hell.

The air in the room was beginning to thin.

The door leading to the garage opened and Eric poked his head in. “While it’s preliminary, I’ve got four sets of boot prints leading to the lanai and the front door, then two pairs going back and forth with much heavier tread.”

“Four went in and two came out.” Tani shifted her feet. “That means…”

“It means two or more people were dragged or carried out,” Lou commented. 

Danny scratched at the tightness to his throat. “These were pros, probably the same ones who tried to grab Grace.” 

“They want him alive,” Lou said, reassuring.

“Yeah.” Danny swallowed. “How else could they twist the knife in my back?”

The smell of burned eggs and blood made him want to gag. These assholes had been watching them, biding their time, and Danny just left early in the morning without thinking. They couldn’t take his children so they went after….

“Excuse me.”

Danny almost barreled past Lou and Tani as he marched out of the kitchen, through the living room and outside. Into fresh air absent the stench of pain and violence. He sucked in breath after breath, bending over with his hands on his knees.

In and out. In and out. Until he didn’t feel like throwing up anymore.

After several calming breaths, Danny stood. He had to get his shit together.

He looked up and noticed Lou walking toward him, hands stuffed inside his pockets. “You okay? And yeah, I know it’s a dumb question but–”

“I’m good.” He locked his gaze with Lou’s worried one. “I’ve got to be.”

Danny walked back toward the front doors and pointed at the roof. “I had security cameras installed a couple years ago, after the last and final thing with Wo Fat.” Lou quirked an eyebrow. “I wasn’t taking any more chances, even after Steve killed him.”

“Normally I’d be concerned about your paranoia, but seriously, good thinking.”

“Yeah, go me.”

***

Tani and Junior took photographs of the scene. No. It was still Steve’s living room. His kitchen, his _home._

Lou oversaw the CSU guys taking tire tracks molds and collecting forensics outside. 

Danny finished transferring all the security footage from Steve’s laptop so he could review it. While he waited for the update to the video program to download, Eric came into Steve’s office where Danny sat at his desk.

“I’m putting a rush on everything.”

“I need the results on the blood. I need to know if any of it is Steve’s.”

Eric paled, but nodded. “Of course.”

“Why are you still standing here?”

Eric took off and Danny started the footage at the point when Junior went for his jog.

He watched as a black SUV pulled up and four men climbed out. Four men who split up and went inside. Then he watched as the minutes ticked by…one, three, five….

Six minutes later a man carried a dead body over his shoulder and dumped him inside the back of the SUV. 

The man went back inside and returned with two others, a third suspect hobbling between his buddies. Danny recognized the driver from Grace’s kidnapping as he went inside with his henchman.

His adrenaline spiked, knowing , waiting….

They brought Steve out the last, dragging his unconscious form between them. Even though the footage was low resolution, he could tell the bastards had tied Steve’s hands behind his back.

Danny bit down on his knuckles. When he got his hands on the bastards responsible…

“You find something?” Lou asked.

Danny held up his hand, watching. There. 

“Yeah. The plate number of the vehicle and enough for facial recognition on the hired thug who….” He stood up, the chair he was sitting on falling over. “We’ve got to plaster the mug of this asshole all over the island.”

***

He sat in his office, cold and numb. Danny could re-watch the security footage again, but after the sixth time, there wasn’t anything else to glean from it.

Jerry created a high res picture of the man hired to take his daughter, who took Steve. 

But that wasn’t who was pulling the strings. The person responsible for this whole fucking thing had been plotting for weeks, maybe even months. And they were behind Oscar Sosa and his crew.

He checked his watch. It’d been six hours since Steve’s abduction and all they had was a picture of the professional who took him and a bunch of tire tracks.

Lou walked inside, his body sluggish, his frown so tight it had to hurt. “We found the SUV abandoned about ten miles away. They burned it.”

“There go the forensics.”

“Jerry is trying to back track the SVU’s movements so he can figure out where they must have switched vehicles and see if he can trace where they went.”

That could take hundreds of hours.

Danny was so damn tired. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept. “The labs came back. The large pool of blood was unknown. The blood splatter from one of the bottom cabinets was Steve’s.”

Lou put on an encouraging face. “There’s a BOLO on the guy who took Steve. If he shows up at an airport, cruise ship, taxi stand, we’ll know.”

Except the type of people who took Steve knew how to avoid cameras. Well, except hidden security cams.

Danny rose to his feet and started toward the door. 

“Hey.” Lou snagged Danny’s elbow. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Danny wasn’t even sure. There were so many pieces. Rodriquez in prison, the surveillance of all of Sosa’s people, tracing the SUV’s whereabouts before it was torched. It made his head spin just thinking about it. 

“Why don’t I buy some dinner? You need to eat and rest. Even if it’s here on your leather sofa.”

“Do you think Steve’s eating and resting?” 

“No,” Lou said, grim. “But he needs you to so you can get him back.”

“What Steve needs is for me to track every lead, bust down every door, and crack however many skulls need to be cracked. And I won’t stop until I’ve burned every fucking road and shaken every last tree on this island. I’m going to find him and I’m going to bury the person responsible for taking him.” 

He sucked in a shaky breath, his blood roaring in his ears, adrenaline pumping so hard his hands shook. “Whatever wrong I did to this person will pale in comparison to when I get my hands on them. I will make them regret every last second of their miserable lives.”

Lou released a long breath, his chest rising and falling with the action. “We’ll do it as a team. No lone wolves, man. And whatever the fallout, so be it.”

Danny nodded his head. “Then let’s get to work.”

***

Thank you for your reactions. ♥ ♥


	8. Chapter Eight

***

 

Danny literally set the phone lines on fire. Sosa’s crew had disappeared from the face of the Earth, so he coordinated with state and federal law enforcement and HPD to track them down. He’d make sure they did not get off the island. 

He paced back and forth in front of the surface table as Jerry updated them.

“So far, I’ve tracked the SUV as it left Commander McGarrett’s house onto Kalaniana’ole Highway. Nunue Street, Hind Drive –”

“Jerry,” Danny growled.

“I’m sorry, but it looks like they drove in random directions until I lost them in an underpass.”

“They knew we’d use traffic cams to track them,” Lou said.

“They had a dead teammate and injured one.” Danny waved a hand at the blurry snapshot of the leader. “At some point they would need to seek medical help.”

Junior walked toward the screen like he was burning the image of the suspect into his brain. “If they’re part of the Honduran Tigres, then they probably have military grade medical kit.”

And Steve would need it. No, Danny wouldn’t go there, he would not distract himself. The leads were not going to come to him. And the biggest one was sitting in a jail cell. “I’m going to the prison.” He didn’t give a crap if the warden hadn’t returned his call yet. “And I’m not leaving until Rodriguez spills his guts about setting me up.”

“Why don’t you take Tani or Junior with you?” Lou suggested. 

“Take me where?” Tani said, walking into the conference area. 

“I don’t need back up,” Danny growled. But he was just burning off hostility. 

“No.” Lou crossed his arms over his chest. “But you need someone to keep you from breaking our only suspect’s jaw.”

“Yeah, um, speaking of that.” Tani cleared her throat. “The warden at the prison called. Rodriquez hung himself.”

***

The team wasn’t allowed to investigate Rodriquez’s death. Jurisdiction fell under the prison, and after the fourth phone call, the secretary told Danny the warden was busy.

Danny kicked the trash can in his office. 

Oscar Sosa and all three of his associates had gone underground. Someone got to Rodriquez, the man responsible for getting Internal Affairs on his back. And they’d lost the SUV carrying Steve and his kidnappers.

Brick walls. Every single one.

He stormed back toward the surface table where Tani was going through traffic cam footage. Danny couldn’t stop pacing. “Anything?” 

She rubbed her eyes. “No. I’ve gone through every camera on every block of McGarrett’s street and I’ve caught the SUV twice. But Jerry’s right. They’re driving in circles to throw us off.”

“But they had to stop somewhere to switch vehicles.”

Tani growled, frustrated. “That’s what I’m searching for.”

“Have you checked ATMs and –”

“I’m still waiting on the Feds to give us access.”

Danny bristled at another bureaucratic obstacle. “I was just on the phone with them a few hours ago.” 

“They said we’d have it by morning, in the meantime, I’ve got plenty of traffic cams to –”

“That’s unacceptable.” Danny pulled out his cell phone.

Tani watched him with an uneasy expression. “I think the local office is closed.”

With the phone pressed to his ear, Danny listened as it rang repeatedly. “This is a federal crime, the head of the governor’s task force was kidnapped, and they went home early?”

“It’s after seven in the evening.”

“There’s no clock in an abduction case.” Danny stared at his phone contact list and searched for the personal number of the agent he’d spoken to earlier in the day. Was it Zielinski or Salinas?

“Why don’t you take a break?” Lou said, walking out of his office. “You’ve been up since four in the morning.”

Ignoring Lou, Danny got the agent coordinating the case with them on the phone in the middle of his dinner and obtained the needed network codes, scribbling them down.

“Okay.” He looked up at Lou and Tani. “Who’s putting on a fresh pot of coffee?”

***

Screen after screen after screen. Danny’s eyes blurred and his head pounded. 

Nothing. They had nothing.

He slammed his hand against his desk and pushed his chair away. “Damn it!” 

It felt like a vice was squeezing his chest. No, no. He had to keep working. He had to find these bastards. Steve was counting on him.

“Danny.”

“What?” Danny snapped and regretted it. He rubbed at his temple as Lou stood in the doorway. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s almost eleven at night. You need to go home and shower and sleep.”

“Yeah? What home?” 

Because Danny didn’t have one. His last one was….

“Hey, don’t do this.” Lou walked around his desk to stand in front of him. “Don’t let your thoughts go there. You’re coming home with me. Renee cooked spaghetti and meatballs and you’re going to have a huge helping. She made up the guest room and –”

“No, I’m not putting you and your family in danger.”

“Duke’s got it covered. My house is under twenty-four hour protection by two patrol cars.”

But Danny couldn’t abandon Steve. He stared at his laptop. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, brother. Just a few hours.”

And what was happening to Steve while Danny slept in a nice warm bed? 

“No. I need to keep working.”

Lou began guiding Danny out of his chair. “We’re doing this, man.” 

Danny started to stand, struggling with logic and his heart, hating that he was submitting. He allowed himself to be led away, promising himself it was to recharge his brain and body, recharge himself for tomorrow’s fight.

***

It was strange to sleep in someone’s guestroom. Danny either slept in his own bed or….

Lou and Renee had greeted him with open arms and made sure he had everything he needed before going to sleep.

He lay in bed face-down, the breeze from the open window blowing across his back. Stretching, he spread his right arm out, feeling the empty space beside him. 

His heart sank at the road not taken. How many days, weeks, _months_ had they squandered? And for what? Because Danny was afraid to take that final step, because it was complicated? 

He remembered that moment the other morning, standing in the doorway of Steve’s bedroom just to bask in watching Steve sleep, his heart fond and grateful and just….

He buried his face further into the pillow and squeezed his eyes closed against the pain threatening to spill forth. At the anguish and guilt eating him up inside. At all the what-ifs he was able to keep silent during the waking hours when he kept his mind occupied. Working, trying, doing. 

Bringing his arms around, he hugged the pillow against him and tried not to give into the raw agony threatening to destroy him from within. 

***

A dozen HPD officers and a dozen DEA agents were actively searching for Oscar Sosa and his men. And despite the previous headbutting of egos, Captain Hayne was working over time helping in the search.

Members of the State Department continued to work with Homeland Security to monitor all ocean ports and airports, and Danny had to laugh at the irony that they were still trying to remove the security alert on him.

After three cups of coffee, Danny had gotten nowhere else on the camera footage, but Jerry had rounded up a few techs from the cyber division and now they had a team searching every minute of footage.

But by mid-afternoon they were at a dead-end.

Finishing his coffee, he watched Junior walk into his office talking on his cell phone, Tani observing him with a frown.

“Is everything okay?” Danny asked.

“What? Why?” she asked. 

“Because you’re broadcasting worry. And I’m kind of expert on that.”

Tani looked down at the floor. “It’s nothing. We’ve got a lot on our plates….”

“Talk to me.” Danny gave her a tired smile. “If we can’t look out for each other, what good are we?”

“He spent all of last night going over that footage again. The crime scene photos. I even think he made some discreet calls or something.” 

Danny knew Junior was staying with her until Steve’s house was finally released as a crime scene. He must have quirked an eyebrow or something because she rolled her eyes at him.

“He sleeps on the sofa…if he slept.” Tani’s face fell and she ran both hands through her hair. “He was there that morning. At the house. Then he went out for a run and you know….”

“Yeah, I do.” Danny had an intimate relationship with guilt and blame. 

Junior walked briskly back out of his office, pausing long enough to talk. “I, um…I need to follow-up on something.”

Danny’s cell rang before he could say anything. It was Grace and he walked away to take it.

***

Danny sat in his chair in front of his desk. “Hey, sweetie, how are you?” 

_“I’m fine. Mom took me to a spa today.”_

It felt so good to talk to her, to hear Grace’s voice. Danny wiped at his face. “Oh, that’s good. Did you have a nice time?”

_“Not really.”_

Danny grimaced, his heart hurting. 

_“I’m sorry, Danno. I shouldn’t have said that.”“Do you know when…I mean….”_

“I’m still working hard on catching the bad guys, sweetie.”

_“I know you and Uncle Steve will catch them soon.”_

Danny took the phone away from his face so she didn’t hear his breath catch. He swallowed twice to get his voice under control before responding. “We will.”

He slouched into his chair as Grace talked about her day, telling him about the slow wi-fi and how one of the bellboys was cute. And what she should wear when she and Will went to next month’s dance. It was nice and normal and made him melt. 

Until cold hard reality set in as she told him goodbye. _“And tell Uncle Steve that he needs to make sure you eat and sleep. Like a real meal, not fast food.”_

“Stop growing up so fast.” Danny hated how high-pitched his voice sounded. 

_“Love you.”_

“I love you too,” Danny got out before he totally lost it. 

The call ended and he tossed his phone onto his desk. He’d lied to her, did one of the only things he despised. But he couldn’t tell Grace about Steve, couldn’t put that type of stress and worry on her. 

She could forgive him later. 

He glanced at the time; it was after two in the afternoon. Steve had been gone for thirty-two hours.

***

 

It was early evening, the remains of fish tacos and salad strewn across a fold-up table where whole team had eaten.

“Why hasn’t anyone called you?” Tani asked him after throwing away her napkin. She looked exhausted. They all did. 

Danny stared at her, thinking. “You mean like a ransom?”

“Yeah.”

Junior and Lou stood around the surface table with him, both curious.

“I don’t know,” Danny admitted. 

“This revenge plan has been systematic,” Junior spoke up. “Taking Commander McGarrett was obviously meant to inflict the most damage possible.”

Danny flinched at such a succinct assessment. 

Kidnappings were done for extortion, politics, or to demand something from the family.

Danny knew deep inside it was for the latter, for the emotional satisfaction of the abductor. This whole thing was about inflicting emotional pain on him. Making him suffer. Now Steve was paying the price. And every awful moment was all on Danny’s shoulders.

***

Early evening turned into burning the midnight oil and into another horrible night of no sleep in Lou’s guest room. Danny turned onto his side and stared at the open window again, his mind lit up with new scenarios, new sources of disaster and dangers, new images of Steve stubbornly smiling around a mouth of blood. 

_Stop it. Let it go._ Because it wasn’t enough that someone was using Steve to torture him, he had to do an even worse number on himself. 

Danny wished he was one of those people who could roll over and doze, but he ended up watching the color slowly seep back into the walls as morning dawned. 

Another day of nightmares.

***

Drinking coffee was like breathing. Danny needed it function more and more. His feet moved on autopilot, his brain sluggish, but it wasn’t slow enough that he didn’t notice the light in Junior’s tiny office. 

“And I thought I was getting here at the crack of dawn?”

Junior pushed out his chair. “Um, yeah.” He stood at parade rest.

For a SEAL, Junior always seemed a bit reserved for the job, but Danny recognized a burning need to prove oneself with the drive of a locomotive. They were achingly familiar traits.

“So, what have you been sneaking off to do the last two days? You’re not very subtle with the phone calls.”

“I…I’ve reached out to a few ex-team members to see if they could pull some reconnaissance video.” Junior’s face fell and he stared at the ground. “But nothing is panning out. I don’t have the same type of pull as Commander McGarrett.”

“Well, Steve has some pretty high connections.” 

Danny appreciated Junior’s effort, and damn it, it fucking hurt to see another person pulled in by Steve’s loyalty and stupid big heart. 

Gnawing at his lip, Danny slammed the lid on his roaming thoughts. They weren’t productive. He gestured at Junior’s computer. “I doubt you’re talking to your SEAL buddies right now. What are you studying?”

Junior glanced at his laptop. “We’ve been trying to track the SUV who took Commander McGarrett without much success. Given the precise nature of the operation, I figured the people who took him conducted early recon.”

Danny raised his eyebrows. “So, you’re trying to find the SUV before it arrived and then back track it to its original destination.” 

Junior’s face beamed for a brief moment before he shuffled back to his chair. “Yeah. I’ve watched every camera I could find around the neighborhood and located it at 0400 hundred. Now, that I know the time it arrived, I hope to begin searching backward.”

“We could split the search.” Finally, Danny had something new to go on. “This is good work.”

But Junior grimaced, his shoulders sagging. “I figured it was the least I could do.”

It sparked something white-hot inside Danny’s chest. “Hey, don’t do that. You didn’t take him.”

“But if—”

“If what? You didn’t go for a jog that morning? Were you not supposed to go out for your daily exercise? Or wait, you were supposed to remain at home so the evil SEAL squad could kill you?”

Junior held his head high. “If I had remained, Commander McGarrett might have had the needed back up.”

“So, you’re beating yourself up for not being physic.” The muscle along Junior’s jaw jumped, but Danny couldn’t let it go. “I left. Early. I left without telling Steve, without telling you. I knew I had a target on my back, knew there was one on my family so I sent them away. And what did I do? I put a giant spotlight on Steve by temporally moving in with him. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. And _only_ me. I shouldn’t have—”

Swallowing, Danny wiped his hands over his face. _Stop it_ ; he had to pull himself together. “I’m sorry. Let’s just dig through this footage.”

His phone vibrated and Danny pulled it out, noticing the unknown number. Dread filled his chest. He flashed it at Junior, who nodded. 

“Hello?”

_“Detective Williams.”_

Danny’s blood ran cold, his nostrils flaring. Drawing a steady breath, he put his cell on speaker phone. “Yes. Who is this?”

_“I’ve tried to imagine what your voice sounds like. It’s raspier than I expected.”_

“Yeah, that’s peachy. What do you want?”

_“For you to feel pain.”_

And he did. An insurmountable pain. Danny’s voice filled with venom. “Why don’t you tell me where you are? Maybe I can make your wish come true.”

_“Patience, Detective. Patience. A death by a thousand cuts is much sweeter.”_

“Why? What did I do to you?”

 _“I’m really glad we had this chance to speak –”_

His pulse raced in panic. “Cut the crap. Where’s Commander Steve McGarrett?”

_“Why? Do you miss him? It’s a horrible, isn’t it? Not knowing where a loved one is. Your imagination runs wild, conjuring up the worse-case scenarios. Are they in pain? What’s happening to them this very second?”_

“Where. Is. He?” Danny growled. “Put him on the phone.”

_“No, you don’t get to be comforted by hearing his voice. You, Detective Williams, get to suffer.”_

The line clicked dead.

Danny squeezed the phone so hard it hurt his hand. He stared at Junior. “Anything?”

Junior’s crestfallen expression told Danny all he needed to know. “The program Jerry put on your phone couldn’t trace the call. It was being bounced around too much.”

Danny’s mind filled with dread. His body trembled. His chest filled with such ache. He almost threw-up. But his face remained stubbornly dry as he walked out of Junior’s office without a clue as to where he was going.

***

Guilt gnawed at Danny. Failure after failure after failure. And instead of hitting the pavement and doing something, he was sitting in a leather hair inside Lou Grover’s study to avoid waking up his family. 

It was midnight; Steve had been taken almost sixty-six hours ago.

Three thousand, nine hundred and sixty minutes of being held by someone who despised Danny. Every moment of pain was on Danny. Every torment. 

He cradled his head between his hands. All he wanted to do was sob, but nothing happened. His chest heaved with his shaky breathing. 

“Steve is alive and you can’t ever doubt that.” 

Danny dropped his hands from his head and he looked up at Lou, who stood in front of him. “All this pain is what this asshole wants. He knows you’re hurting and he’s going to string you along.”

But Lou’s pep talked didn’t take the pain away. Danny’s heart was cut to ribbons all over the floor.

“I don’t know where else to look. Junior tracked the SUV to a rental car agency. We have dozens of cops and state agents searching and not a single one can find a trace of Oscar Sosa or his crew.” The overwhelming dead-ends were crushing. Danny stood so he could breathe. “They’ve shaken down every local dealer and no one knows a damn thing. _Nothing.”_

His fault, his fault, his fault. Danny stood up, the darkness threatening to swallow him whole. And he’d let it, if it would wipe away the pain, but such traitorous thoughts only made him feel worse. His eyes started to water. “Some asshole took Steve, and is doing God knows what, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”

“Steve is a tough sonofabitch.”

“Yeah, and according to Eric he was shot.” They all knew Steve had been injured, but to have more specifics made it worse. “They pulled a slug out of one of the cabinets with Steve’s blood on it.”

And it was all on Danny. Everything. He felt like he was caught in a freefall.

“Hey. Don’t do this, man.” Lou wrapped an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “He survived Wo Fat, he survived ten years in the SEALs, he’ll survive this.”

But doubt had dug its claws into him and Danny loathed himself just a little bit more. 

***

He lay in bed again, exhausted but wide awake. 

No matter how much Danny strived to be the man his conscience wanted him to be, it kept taunting him with his failures. Regret and remorse filled his thoughts, heavy and unforgiving, and they would return tomorrow to haunt him all over again.

His phone rang again and Danny fumbled for it in the dark, his heart skipping a beat when he saw the unknown number.

“Hello.”

_“It hurts the most at night, doesn’t it? The not knowing.”_

“You’re sadistic.”

_“I’m calculated.”_

Danny sat up in bed, the blood roaring in his ears. “What’s the end-game, huh? After all this is over? Do you really think I believe Steve is still alive?”

_“I’m not falling for it, Detective.”_

“What did I do to you? Did I put you in prison and you couldn’t cope? Did your bunkmate get to know you _real well?_ Did mom and dad grow old while you rotted away? Did your sister or brother disown you?”

_“My brother didn’t disown me because you fucking killed him. His body was left to rot and fester until the authorities finally discovered him. They didn’t inform my mother for over a week.”_

Danny stilled at the first real piece of information. Pleasantries hadn’t gotten him anywhere, maybe continued hostility would. “Sounds like your brother deserved it.”

 _“My brother was ruthless. But I still loved him. We always love family, don’t we, Danny? Even if they’re fuck-ups. Maybe you’ll see your friend’s face again, or maybe I’ll make sure you never will. Or maybe…”_ There was a heavy exhale. _“Maybe I’ll stuff Commander McGarrett inside a barrel and deliver him to you.”_

Danny felt like he’d been punched in the sternum. “You’re Marco Reyes’s brother….”

_“I was away at university when you murdered my brother. And as much as I loved him, I’m smarter and more cunning than he ever was. Don’t you think?”_

The call ended and Danny was already out of bed and in search of his clothes, his heart going a mile a minute. 

This changed everything. 

***


	9. Chapter Nine

In hindsight, Danny should have had a conversation with Lou instead of rushing out. But he needed to move, needed room to breathe, to think. Adrenaline flowed like a livewire through his body.

He rolled the windows of the rental car down, the night breeze cool against his face. Danny gulped in the fresh air, trying to get a grip. 

Marco Reyes was still haunting him from beyond the grave. Danny needed to know about the brother, every scrap of intel, his background, his resources. 

A warning light lit up on his dash. He was almost out of gas. 

Cursing, Danny searched for anything open, the fuel alert beeping at him every few seconds. 

It took another agonizing three minutes until he found a gas station and he pulled up beside one of the pumps. 

His hands shook as he pulled out the gas nozzle and inserted it into the car gas tank. Danny stared at it when nothing flowed out. Damn it. He still didn’t have a way to pay for it.

Danny didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. His legs were like rubber and he leaned against the side of the car. His eyes welled with moisture and all he wanted was to drop to the ground and give in to the emotions overwhelming him. 

The metal from the rental car felt cool against his skin and Danny sucked in an exhausted breath. How was he going to get to work now? He pulled out his cell phone when he noticed a patrol car pull into the parking lot.

Danny patted along his pockets in search of his badge. If he didn’t know these guys, he didn’t want to appear intoxicated or like a threat. God, what if they ran his driver’s license number? He still had that Homeland alert attached to his name.

He could not afford to go to jail; he couldn’t do that to Steve. 

The driver-side window rolled down and Danny almost sagged in relief when he recognized the patrolman.

“Detective Williams. Captain Grover gave us a call and said to keep a look-out for you.”

Thank goodness for Lou. 

“Yeah. Could you give me a lift to HQ?”

***

At three-thirty in the morning, the entire team stood around the surface table. Somehow Jerry had already gathered a basic profile on Reyes.

“Julian Reyes is twenty-eight years old,” Jerry began. “He moved to London when he was nineteen and graduated from Oxford with a Masters in Financial Economics. He has no spouse or children and he owns a home in a wealthy suburb of Medellin, Columbia.” 

“Is there anything about him taking up his brother’s position in the cartel?” Danny asked.

Jerry frowned. “I haven’t drilled down that much yet.”

“I bet the CIA has something on him,” Lou said over his coffee.

“Does Julian have any other siblings?” Danny crossed his arms. “Anyone else he could be plotting with?”

“No, it was just him and his brother.” Jerry brought up FBI records. “Marco lived in Bogotá and his mother and younger brother in Medellin before Julian went off to school.”

“And I bet his big bad brother paid for it,” Danny growled. Focus. “Okay. We need to know the second Julian stepped foot on Oahu, where he’s been, and what connections he has on the island.”

“We should check with the DEA,” Tani suggested. 

“How large was Reyes’s operation?” Junior asked.

“Marco Reyes was the head of the third most powerful drug cartel in Colombia with connections to the CIA.” Danny didn’t mention Matt’s name, he couldn’t. Not now, not without thinking about Steve. Lou nodded at him and Danny knew he had informed the others regarding the bloody history. How Reyes murdered Danny’s brother. 

Junior stared at Julian Reyes’s mugshot. “Sounds like he has the money to hire anyone in the world.”

“Screw him and his money,” Lou snarled in a rare burst of anger. “Five-O burned a billion dollars of his brother’s empire and we’ll do it again.”

“I’ve added his picture to all the major BOLOs,” Jerry said, typing. “Including all private airports.”

“No, not good enough. We’re going to freeze all of his assets. Even if half of them are in shell companies, it’ll hurt the bastard.” Danny glared at the profile. “In fact, we’re taking one from Steve’s book. We’ll call in the National Guard. Have them round up every known drug trafficker, from every organization, and go after all their assets. Then we’ll tell whoever is listening if they want to know why they’re being popped, it’s courtesy of Julian Reyes.”

Junior beamed and Tani raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lou like he held some magical answers.

“Don’t look at me.” Lou shrugged. “McGarrett’s finally rubbed off on him.”

They had no idea.

***

Danny pulled out all the stops, used every connection. The team had political capitol. The governor backed his play and the rank and file in HPD was more than willing to back up the major sweep.

His blood thrummed with energy; he couldn’t stop pacing and moving. If he stopped, all the momentum would come crashing down around him.

Walking out of his office, Danny did not expect to bump into Lieutenant Sanger. “Get out of my way.”

Sanger held up his hands. “I heard about Reyes. I’m just here to offer assistance.”

“Unless you know where he is, you can’t.”

“Someone like Julian Reyes has a lot of power. Have you stopped to think he has someone in HPD to help him?”

Danny glared up at Sanger’s narrow nose. “I’ve got the back of every man and woman in blue; I will not have you muddy the waters with your suspicion.”

“You know a man like Reyes has crafted a master plan of revenge. So what else could he possibly do to you?”

“Kill McGarrett.”

“McGarrett is just a Knight. He wants the King, doesn’t he?”

God, the slimeball was right.

Before Danny could say another word, his cell rang. He froze at the unknown number.

Danny motioned at Tani, who was walking toward them. She snapped her fingers and in the background, Danny knew they were recording it even with the tracking program he had.

“Hello.”

_“You are resourceful, I’ll give you that.”_

“What do you want? And don’t wax ecstatic about revenge.”

There was a long pause. _“I want my brother back, but you can’t do that for me, can you?”_

“I could say the same thing to you, couldn’t I? It’s like some bad Shakespearean tragedy.”

_“Well, I’m writing this play, Detective.”_

“Oh, my God, stop with the villain speech, it’s getting old. If you’re not calling to talk about Steve then don’t bother.”

Danny ended the call, his breath coming in raspy inhales and exhales. _God._ What did he just do?

Junior looked at him, wide-eyed. 

Tani whistled. “That was, um…ballsy.”

“I’m not going to give him what he wants anymore,” Danny growled. “I’m tired of playing puppet master to his sick game.”

His cell rang again. “Yeah?” 

_“You know, I’d put Commander McGarrett on the phone, but he’s a bit incoherent right now. A fever is kind of frying his brain.”_

Danny’s worked his jaw back and forth. He knew deep inside that Reyes wasn’t lying. Steve had been shot and hadn’t received treatment from a hospital. “He’s not the one you want. Let’s put all our cards on the table. You want me.”

_“Are you offering yourself as a trade, Detective? How fucking heroic.”_

“Well, I gave up on ever seeing Steve alive again. I know what your cock-sucking brother did last time we made a deal. But now, I’m the one putting the screws to you. How pleased do you think the other kingpins and drug czars will be when they realize they can’t unfreeze their assets? Who will they blame?”

_“You can’t –”_

“No, I can. Everyone thinks Steve’s the crazy one. That I’m here to keep him in line. And it’s true, but who was keeping _me_ in line? See, Steve’s a fucking SEAL; they’re their own brand of insane. I’m a guy from Jersey whose daughter was kidnapped and whose partner was nabbed…I have zero self-control and my main goal in life is to burn the whole world down to destroy you.”

Danny’s chest heaved with every word, his head spinning from lack of oxygen.

Reyes exhaled over the phone. _“I’ll call you in one hour with my instructions.”_

_Click._

Danny stared at Tani and Junior, who stared back at him with the same expression of shock.

Fuck. It worked.

***

Danny inventoried their gear. The Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifle was Junior and Steve’s favorite weapon. He grabbed two cases and ensured they had enough ammo and then some.

Danny preferred the AR-15. 

Junior appeared and started conducting safety checks without saying a word. Then he pulled out a sniper rifle, testing its weight. He looked over at Danny and cleared his throat. “Commander McGarrett purchased something recently that I think might come in handy.”

Danny raised an eyebrow and nodded. 

Searching the shelves, Danny collected a few smoke grenades while Junior grabbed the ones that killed people.

A couple minutes later Tani showed up and started pulling out their TAC vests.

Lou walked in a moment later. 

Danny felt Lou’s gaze on him. Danny didn’t need him to say a word. Reyes probably planned to kill him and Steve. 

But at least they stood a chance; they had a part to play. Danny had a say in his and Steve’s destinies. 

***

The meet was unimaginative; the precautions Reyes took were by-the-book. Danny drove the rental car to three different locations, waiting at each one for a new set of directions. The fourth one took him to a canning plant near the docks.

There was one road in and out. Danny drove down a driveway, slowing down as a security a gate automatically closed behind him. 

He parked in small parking lot and scanned the area. It was a good location for a bad guy. The gate kept people away and there was no obstruction so they had a good vantage point. Danny, on the other hand, noticed the three SUVs parked fifty feet away in front of several dumpsters and giant recycling bins. 

Danny stepped out of the car with his AR-15. He had a Glock at his ankle and extra clips in his pockets.

Five men came out of two of the SUVs, all packing MK18’s. Although two of them looked like they were uncomfortable carrying them.

Danny recognized Oscar Sosa and two of his men. An unknown guy stood beside Julian Reyes. 

“We’ll meet halfway,” Reyes instructed. 

It only took ten steps to reach the middle. Danny curled his hands around his weapon.

Julian only resembled his brother in the eyes. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he had three days’ worth of beard. He was dressed in a black dress shirt and nice slacks, like he was going on a date. 

“Sosa will relieve you of your iron and pat you down.”

Danny had expected it. Sosa removed Danny’s rifle, shouldering it, and found his back-up Glock at his ankle. Danny remained where he was while Sosa opened all four doors to the rental car, then the trunk. 

“Everything’s clear,” Sosa announced as he returned to his group.

“I guess you won’t drop your weapons in return?” Danny asked. 

Reyes smiled. “What do you think?”

Danny kept his breath, his temper and rage at boil under his skin. He bit on his bottom lip, the flash of pain keeping him in line. “Where’s Steve?”

“Where is _Steve?_ ” Reyes laughed. “He was quite the handful for a while, I gotta say. A pair of balls on that one.”

Danny mentally counted to five. “We’re here for a trade, so trade.”

“Maybe I didn’t bring him.” 

It was a bleak possibility. Reyes may have killed him already; it wasn’t like he’d been given any proof of life. But Reyes wanted him to squirm and Danny wouldn’t give him the pleasure. 

Danny stood there. Silent.

Reyes snorted. “My brother taught me many things, but I am a man of my word. I did bring your partner.” He gestured at the third SUV.

Danny kept breathing in and out as he watched two men climb out of the front seat of the other SUV and open the rear door. 

_Inhale. Exhale._

The two men pulled out a third person and dragged him between them. A horrible ache filled inside Danny’s chest.

As they got closer, Danny recognized one of the suspects as the man who kidnapped Grace and took Steve from his home. 

The assholes dropped Steve onto the ground face first. Steve couldn’t break his fall because his hands were tied behind his back, but he grunted when he landed so he maintained some level of consciousness.

And consciousness meant not dead. 

Danny tried to gauge Steve’s injuries but it was hard to tell. He was still wearing a blue Navy t-shirt and board shorts. And having his arms restrained behind his back must’ve wreaked havoc to his injured shoulder.

Grace’s kidnapper lifted up his boot and pressed it in between Steve’s shoulder blades, pinning Steve to the ground.

Danny started forward, but the man pointed a SIG at Steve’s head and glared at Danny.

Reyes snorted. “I forgot to mention that Esau here has been pretty pissed at McGarrett for killing two of his men. One of them died two days ago from his injuries. I had to actually pay him to keep him from offing your partner.”

It was taking every ounce of control to keep Danny from killing Reyes and every single person here. “I’m taking Steve to the car.” 

Esau pressed his boot into Steve’s back. “Would love to see him try to drive.”

Or maybe Danny would start with Esau. Ignoring the attempt to bait him, Danny started moving forward to take Steve.

But Reyes drew his weapon and pointed it at Danny. “Did you think it would be that easy?”

Danny froze. No, not really. 

“These last few weeks, watching you dance. Needing help just to buy a cheeseburger, all those fun meetings at the bank.” Reyes grinned. “I may have a few photos of some of your more stunning moments. The one where McGarrett comforted you in the parking lot was nice.”

“You would be the type of pervert who likes to take pictures.”

The grin faded from Reyes’s face. “I thought getting Internal Affairs on your trail was going to be my sweetest moment, but the more I saw you and your partner interact…well, the last few days have been the best.”

Reyes laughed again, looking down at Steve. “I don’t tend to get my hands dirty, but Esau on the other hand…he’s had plenty of incentive.”

Esau pressed his boot harder in between Steve’s shoulder blades. Steve’s sound of pain was like fire across Danny’s nerves. 

“Although, I was disappointed that such a big, badass SEAL could be taken down by getting sick.” Reyes tsked.

“Kidnapping children and looming over injured captives. Sounds like you and your cowardly scumbag brother have a lot in common.”

Reyes strode forward and pistol-whipped Danny across the face. Danny barely had time to register the pain as Reyes stepped behind Danny and wrapped an arm around his chest, pulling him flush. He pressed the barrel of his weapon to Danny’s temple. 

“I’m not exactly like Marco. I didn’t put McGarrett in a barrel. Not yet,” Reyes breathed into Danny’s ear. “See. You’re going to watch him die.”

Esau removed his foot from Steve’s back. Then he and his buddy hauled him up by the armpits. Steve couldn’t put much weight on his legs; his right thigh was wrapped in a bandage. The front of his sleeveless shirt was covered in dirt and grime.

Steve slowly lifted up his head and stared in Danny’s direction. Steve’s face was badly bruised, and his gaze off, like he was having trouble focusing. 

Reyes laughed in Danny’s ear. “You know, I wasn’t sure how this would all play out. The final part of my plan was to sell your daughter to some friends of mine in Thailand. Send you pretty pictures for months.”

Danny’s mind went numb. 

“Make it slow,” Reyes ordered Esau. “It needs to be a painful death.”

Esau adjusted his hand and gripped Steve by his bad shoulder. Steve winced, but the fresh bout of pain seemed to waken him more and Steve straightened his body, placing more weight on his left leg.

Pulling out a knife with his right hand, Esau nodded at Reyes. “Through the lungs. But just one at a time...”

Danny slipped his hand into his pocket, fingers closing around the tiny remote inside. “You’ve gone through SERE, Steven. You’ve got this. ” He prayed Steve got the hidden meaning.

Steve squinted at him, still looking dazed. God, Danny hoped he got this right.

“Now, Steve!” Danny yelled. 

Danny grabbed the gun at his temple, twisting it away as he dropped to his knees. The gun went off as he jabbed Reyes in the stomach with his other elbow.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Esau’s buddy dropped from a sniper’s bullet to the head. Esau searched for the source as Steve threw himself at the other man, both men falling to the ground.

“Help Steve!” Danny yelled at his teammates.

Tani launched herself out of the hidden compartment they’d created out of the rental car’s backseat. Junior had jumped out of the trunk with a sniper rifle right before Danny had gone down the driveway. 

Oscar Sosa aimed his weapon in Danny’s direction. Danny squeezed the remote and Danny’s confiscated rifle exploded from where it hung over the Sosa’s shoulder.

“You sonofabitch!” Reyes cursed. 

Danny spun around and faced the barrel of a gun. Reyes pulled the trigger.

Pain slammed into Danny’s chest. Landing on his back, Danny struggled for breath as pain laced through his ribs. 

Reyes swam into view as he loomed over Danny. “What the fuck?”

Reyes fumbled for his weapon in confusion even as bouts of gunfire were exchanged behind them.

Danny sucked in a painful breath. “Plates….”

Obviously, Reyes had zero experience in the latest SEAL Kevlar gear. Taking advantage of Reyes’s shock, Danny wrapped his legs around Reyes’s left knee. Danny rolled onto his side and twisted hard, bringing Reyes down to the ground with a hard _thud._

Groaning from the pain radiating from where the bullet impacted the Kevlar, Danny struggled to his feet.

Staggering a few steps, Danny half fell, half straddled the man responsible for weeks of misery. 

Rearing his fist back, Danny smashed it into Reyes’s face, one, two, three times. Reyes’s head whipped back in succession of every punch. “You…should…join…your…brother…in hell.”

Every moment of torment, of fear, of anger, went into every swing of his fist. His hand throbbed, his head spun with dizziness, but Danny couldn’t stop himself.

For Grace, for his friends, for Steve. 

“Danny, man, come on.”

Lou’s voice sounded so far away, like a din in the background. 

“Danny.”

Swaying from adrenaline, Danny fell onto his ass beside his tormentor. Breathing like a steam engine, Danny stared at Reyes’ bloodied face. 

Weeks of hell…over.

Except…

“Steve!”

Danny swung his arm around and Lou grabbed his hand and helped pull him to his feet. “Cuff this piece of shit.”

“My pleasure,” Lou said.

Scanning the area, Danny spotted Tani kicking a rifle away and securing a suspect. The others were unmoving. 

Heavy footfalls raced up behind him, and Danny spun around, ready to throw a punch.

Junior held up his hands, his sniper rifle secured over his shoulder. 

“Come with me,” Danny ordered.

Danny slowed down as he neared Tani, but she waved him off.

Three bodies lay sprawled next to each other. Junior pulled away the guy that he shot in the head while Danny spared a glance at Esau and noted the knife sticking out of his chest from his struggle with Steve.

Danny knelt on the ground. Supporting Steve’s head, Danny carefully rolled him onto his back. “Steve?”

Junior went to Steve’s other side. Pulling out a blade, he made quick work of the rope around Steve’s wrists that were now held in front of him. Even ill, Steve was still a freaking ninja.

Junior frowned at the obviously abraded and angry-red skin around Steve’s wrists. “I think he’s worn these for days.”

Danny pressed his fingers to the side of Steve’s throat. Steve’s pulse was like a hummingbird’s. “Babe?” Danny pressed his hands on both sides of Steve’s face and winced at the heat emanating from his skin. “Damn, he’s got a high fever.”

“This bandage is actually relatively clean.” Junior patted down Steve’s leg. “Skin’s hot to the touch.”

Despite the physical abuse, Reyes had obviously tried to keep Steve alive. 

“EMS is three minutes out,” Tani told them. She hung back, watching.

Thank goodness they had several on stand-by.

“D’nny?”

“Yeah, hey. It’s me,” Danny said to him. Steve had two semi-healing black eyes and most of his face was swollen, especially on the right side. “Can you hear me?”

“Where…?”

“Safe, you’re safe. Okay?”

Steve didn’t seem to hear him, his eyes fluttering closed. 

“Hey, don’t do that. Hold on. Can you tell me where else you’re hurt?” Danny started palpating Steve’s flank. As soon as he reached the sixth and seventh rib, Steve cried out and pulled away. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

Several sirens grew louder in the distance. 

All Danny wanted to do was hold Steve, but he wasn’t about to do anything to hurt him. Or impede the care he needed.

Exhausted, all he could do was sit beside Steve and mutter reassurances, offering comfort, his voice cracking as days of anguish finally took their toll. Body trembling, Danny brought Steve’s hand to his lips, kissing his filthy fingers, telling Steve he loved him.

***


	10. Chapter 10

 

Taking down the relative of a major cartel member in the commission of a federal crime produced dozens of phone calls. Danny juggled them all. HPD, DEA, Homeland, and countless other federal agencies. After two hours, he’d had enough. Danny redirected the rest to Lou even though he was still at the scene. 

He took some Advil the nurse gave him for the impressive bruise along his sternum. The ER doc couldn’t decide if it he had a hairline fracture of the rib. It hurt if he moved too fast, but Danny could deal with that. He was just happy he hadn’t broken any of his fingers, although his middle three were swollen. The ice pack he had was melting on the little table next to him.

His phone vibrated again. It was the second missed call from the governor. Danny put the phone back into his pocket and shook his head. He slouched in the chair next to Steve’s bed.

“So, my question to you. Did you teach Junior that little explosive trick with the gun? I mean, it seems very you. Plastic explosives in the chamber, tiny detonator, even tinier remote.”

Danny watched Steve’s chest move up and down. His cheeks were still flushed beneath the bruising and his right shoulder was in a new sling. 

“And those Kevlar plate things. I know those were not in this year’s budget. Did you skim those from somewhere?”

The clearing of a throat brought Danny’s attention to the doorway where Tani stood. “May I?” she asked.

“Of course. We’re just having a conversation. Well, I’m doing all the talking.” Danny waved his hand at Steve. “He’s, you know. Sleeping.” 

Walking to the foot on the bed, Tani shifted uncomfortably. “Has he been awake?”

“Not really.” Danny stretched in his chair. “But the doc says it’s to be expected.”

“The fever is from the leg wound?”

“Yeah. It was a simple through and through, but given he didn’t have any antibiotics for days and the harsh conditions….” 

Tani grimaced as she studied Steve. “It definitely wasn’t a stay at the Hilton.”

Danny had stopped cataloguing every bruise an hour ago for his mental health. “Yeah.”

“But, he’s going to be okay?”

It was the question Danny had banished from all his whirling thoughts, because the answer was _yes._ Danny would ensure it. “He just needs rest.”

“Yeah. I could say the same about some other people I know.”

“I’m fine.” His team had been taking care of him for weeks; it wasn’t necessary anymore. Everything was over with. 

“Yeah, McGarrett’s a tough ass, you’re a tough ass, and everyone’s a tough ass.” Tani gestured at Steve. “If you keep being all tough you’re going to be sleeping in a bed next to his.”

“This is a private room.”

Tani rolled her eyes. Sighing, she walked over to the other side of the bed and leaned over. “Hurry the hell up and get better so we can all take a vacation.” 

She reached out and gave Steve’s arm a squeeze, then walked toward the door. “You should take a shower so you don’t look like death warmed over when he wakes up.”

***

His cell phone vibrated again. Danny glanced at the display, not recognizing the number. If it was important, they’d leave a message to add to the others. It was way past visiting hours. It was a surprise the staff hadn’t kicked him out yet.

“Do you realize how much paperwork I’m going to have to do when I return to the office? How many agencies are now involved in this?”

He frowned at Steve who continued sleeping, Danny’s focus drifting. What if he remained bankrupt? Money was all ones and zeroes but if his had been deleted, then what? How much more of a burden would he become?

“I guess I’ll have to start doing some chores to earn my keep if my apartment situation doesn’t get cleared up soon.”

“Laundry….”

Sitting up, Danny leaned over. “What? ”

Steve stared at him with unfocused eyes, his voice rough. “Hate...laundry.”

“Wasn’t that your job in the Navy?”

“Kitchen…duty.”

“That explains why you complain when you do the dishes.”

The left side of Steve’s mouth curled into a half grin. Then he glanced down at himself in confusion, breathing heavy on his oxygen. Moving his left hand, he tried pushing up in bed with a grunt.

“Will you stop it? You have a remote.” Danny grabbed it, pressing the button to shift the bed more upright. “Only a little though, you have a couple of broken ribs among other things.”

By the time Danny elevated the bed, Steve’s eyes had fallen closed again. Taking Steve’s hand, Danny rubbed his thumb over his bruised knuckles. “It’s okay. Sleep. You need it.”

***

Though it was close to midnight on the west coast, Danny needed to his hear his Monkey’s voice. But it was only fair to call Rachel first.

_“Danny?”_

“Hey,” he said, exhausted .

 _“Is it over?”_ Rachel asked. It was amazing how perceptive she was.

“Yeah. It’s over.”

_“Oh, thank goodness, Daniel.”_

“Is Grace awake?”

_“Yeah, hold on.”_

He sat on a bench in a small courtyard, waiting for the phone to be handed to his daughter. Breathing in the night air, he glanced up at the moon, at the beauty of pale yellow and blue.

_“Dad?”_

Upon hearing Grace’s excitement on the other end; Danny smiled as he answered her implied question. “Yes, sweetie. You can come home now.”

***

Showering and sleeping did have its benefits. So did eating a big breakfast. Ham and cheese omelet, toast, and sliced cantaloupe. He had two helpings and poured two cups worth of coffee into a single giant mug.

His phone beeped at him. Pulling it out, he sighed at the newest credit email alert. Danny erased it without looking at it.

Leaving, he didn’t expect it when Renee’s arms wrapped around his shoulder in a hug goodbye. He held on to it, his chest filling with warmth. “Say, hello to Steve for me,” she whispered in his ear.

Walking outside on autopilot, Danny stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the rental car was parked beside Lou’s truck. Sliding into the driver’s seat, he noticed the gas tank had been filled. 

His team was filled with amazing human beings. 

***

It wasn’t a surprise to find Junior sitting in the chair of Steve’s room reading a book. It was eight in the morning and he’d probably snuck in at the crack of dawn.

Junior started getting out of the chair and Danny waved him off. “I’m good.” Danny gestured at Steve. “How’s he doing?”

Junior laughed. “Um, so we had this odd conversation about pizza and cats.” 

Danny stood at the end of the bed. “That’s not the oddest conversation I’ve ever had with him.” 

“I heard the Feds are transporting Julian Reyes to the mainland.” Junior crossed his arms over his chest. “You okay about that?”

“Let them haul that garbage off the island.”

“You don’t want to interrogate him?”

“No, I want to the Feds to throw him in solitary and never let him out. Or better yet, strip him of all his clothes, cover him in honey and toss him in the middle of the jungle. What I want….” Danny breathed heavily. “What I want is to rewind the clock and to have realized how hard he was coming after me before any of this horrible collateral damage.”

“Didn’t you tell me that I couldn’t blame myself for not being physic?” Junior challenged. 

“Danny…doesn’t listen to his own advice.” 

Steve’s voice sounded groggier but less strained than before. Danny crossed his arms. “Yeah, well, you don’t listen to my advice at all.” 

“I tend to filter out…white noise.”

Junior got out of the chair and Danny went over and sat in it. “White noise? You’re the one always carrying on about the most ridiculous things that no one wants to hear.”

Steve gave him the stupidest grin. It was probably the drugs or the fever, but something deep in Danny’s belly tingled from being on the receiving end of it. Taking Steve’s hand, Danny started in on some of Steve’s other annoying traits.

***

After being missing for four days and spending three in the hospital, Steve was finally able to go home. 

Danny got out of the driver side and went around to the passenger side to open the door for Steve. “I’m gonna leave the crutches in the backseat.” Steve’s dislocated shoulder made using them moot. 

Pushing on the dashboard for support, Steve hobbled out of the car. Danny helped the best he could until Steve was semi-standing. Steve wrapped an arm around Danny’s shoulders while Danny wrapped his other arm around Steve’s back. The two of them made slow progress toward the front door.

Steve glanced behind him with an amused grin. “Want to tell me what happened to the backseat?”

“Oh, yeah, we used the car as a Trojan horse.”

“Really?” Steve sounded too curious for his own good.

“Don’t get any ideas. Besides, you’re probably going to have to pay the repair bill to the rental company from that supposed expense account of yours.”

Steve grimaced.

After navigating the doorway, Danny helped Steve onto the sofa. Steve settled against the cushion, arm braced around his ribs, and closed his eyes. “Thanks.”

Danny vibrated with need. “I got the guest room made up since you won’t be able to go upstairs for a few days.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Did you grow wings when I wasn’t looking? Doc said to stay off the leg for a few days.”

“True.”

Steve massaged his right bicep, a tic Danny had noticed in the hospital and in the car. 

“Did the doc say when you needed to start physical therapy?”

“I have an appointment in a week.” Steve dropped his hand from where he’d been kneading the muscle. “He’s worried about….”

“About what?” 

“Nothing.”

Irritation colored Danny’s voice. “Steve….”

“Danny, don’t.” Steve sat up and stared at him with tired eyes. “I’m not adding more fuel to your guilt. None of this was your fault.”

It wasn’t guilt, it was reality. “Reyes came after _me.”_

“Yeah, he did. And made you a victim of multiple crimes.”

“You mean the both of us.” Because Steve had been a pawn used to punish Danny and every time he thought about the last hundred hours the pain and fear almost choked the air out of his lungs all over again. 

Danny paced back and forth before he took a seat in the recliner. “I have an active imagination, as you are well aware. It gets more twisted and darker at night, not to mention during those moments when you’re not thinking about anything. When your brain kind of hijacks all your other thoughts, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“After both times with Wo Fat, even after Afghanistan, I got bits and pieces from your after action reports. Or stuff you’d let slip in conversations.” Danny looked Steve in the eyes , took in the fading bruises, the darker ones on the right side of his face. “It helped, knowing what happened.”

Steve’s expression softened, because Danny knew they had been in similar situations in their lives. “I don’t know where they kept me. There was no sound and it was musty like a basement. They had an eight-by-eight chain link fence installed. I slept on the ground inside of it.”

“Not the most hygienic of places.”

“They kept my legs bound, my arms tied behind my back the whole time.”

Danny made a mental note to look up the best orthopedist on the island.

“Given my bum shoulder and the hole in my thigh, I didn’t have an opportunity to escape.” Steve frowned in guilt then shook his head like he knew his internal musings were unrealistic. “Look, not much happened. The two guys who grabbed me took turns keeping an eye on me. One of them was all business. He kept the bandage changed, gave me water and some of power bars. The other guy…” Steve half-shrugged. “He wasn’t so friendly.”

Danny’s stomach rolled at thought of that goon, Esau, whaling on Steve. He licked his lips. “And Reyes?”

“He’d come in and rant about his brother. How much he enjoyed what he was doing to you. He must’ve had his own surveillance on us, it was like he had every moment memorized.” Steve locked eyes with Danny. “Julian was a piece of shit coward. He never laid a hand on me. He had his thug do it.”

Danny nodded his head. Steve wasn’t big on details and Danny wouldn’t push him. “Thank you.”

It didn’t relieve the guilt and self-loathing, but maybe it’d prevent Danny’s mind from filling with even more nightmarish scenarios. 

“Hey, look at me,” Steve said, his voice sharp.

Danny lifted his head up and Steve inched forward on the sofa. “When that asshole shot you last year, did you blame his ex-wife?”

“No, of course not.”

“Exactly. Because we can’t control what evil people do. We don’t have that type of power. If we did, our jobs would be very different.”

Deep inside, Danny knew what Steve was saying was the truth. He’d given a very similar speech to other victims, but his heart still hurt from the sheer brutality of the whole thing.

“Come on,” Steve said, rising to wobbly feet.

“What? And would you just sit and relax.” 

Danny stood up as Steve hobbled over and draped his left arm over Danny’s shoulders. “I need a nap and you’re taking one with me.”

“Oh, am I?” 

But the thought soothed Danny’s soul as he helped Steve into the guest bedroom. 

Unlike the last time, Danny slowly initiated physical contact. He cupped Steve's face with one hand, stroking a thumb along his jaw. "May I?”

Steve narrowed his eyes in caution. “Danny, you don’t need to—”

“I want to. I know I’ve been all over the place, and I know we have this bad habit of doing this type of stuff after a crisis, but please, I just want to be close to you.”

“You know, when I was inside that...cage. I followed my training, turned my thoughts off, pictured something peaceful, something to hold onto.” Steve drew a deep breath, his eyes cast toward the floor. “I thought of the ocean because that was neutral. The waves, the water are easy for the mind to focus on, disconnect. It’s what’s supposed to get you through longer periods of captivity, but my mind, it….it always went back to you.” Looking up, Steve’s voice warbled. “You and Grace, and Charlie. But always you.”

Danny’s heart twisted inside his chest. And instead of screwing up things by talking, he gently guided Steve onto the bed. Kneeling, he took off Steve’s socks, then his shoes. Before Steve had a chance to protest, Danny helped Steve out of his cargo pants then carefully removed the straps to his sling.

Without a word, Danny pulled Steve’s t-shirt over his head, biting his lip at the bruising along his chest and abdomen. He got a peek at the same contusions across Steve’s back where that bastard pushed down with his boot. Based on the patterns, it had occurred several times.

Steve moved to block Danny’s view. 

Danny wouldn’t do it; he wouldn’t give Julian or his goons any more of what they wanted. Cautiously, Danny helped Steve put his sling back on. 

Sitting on the bed, Steve watched as Danny removed his own slacks and undid the buttons to dress shirt. 

Steve moved onto his back and Danny crawled in the bed, curling himself along Steve’s side.

Hooking one arm over Steve's waist, Danny stretched and kissed his ear. “I missed you.”

One of Steve's hands worked its way into Danny’s. "I missed you, too.”

Danny nuzzled Steve's good shoulder. He didn’t say anything, not right now. 

Steve shifted around with a grunt, but quieted after that, his breath slowly evening out. Danny was fast asleep minutes later.

***

It should not have been a surprise that Danny slept well. It was late when he finally drifted awake, drawn by the smell of bacon, the sound of voices filling the house. His eyes went wide in surprised happiness.

“Babe, wake up.”

Steve was slow to open his eyes. He was very groggy, his bewildered expression a bemusing sight.

Danny smiled. “Hey, the most amazing house guests are waiting on us.” 

“W-hat?”

“Food, kids, coffee.” 

Danny crawled out of bed, his heart skipping a beat in excitement. He pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. Then he looked for some clothes for Steve.

The aroma of breakfast made his stomach growl. “I smell pancakes.”

Steve was slow-going, his movements stiff. “Maybe I should just…remain in bed.”

“Come on, babe. You need food and caffeine and meds. And you need to see the smiling faces of some of the most beautiful people in the world.”

Steve face beamed at that. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

***

Danny wandered out into the living room, barefoot. Grace, Charlie and Rachel were in the kitchen cooking up a storm, piles of food heaped on plates on the kitchen island.

Rachel spotted Danny first, her smile genuine and warm. She patted Grace, whose entire face lit up. 

“Danno!”

Calling out his name alerted Charlie, and in seconds, Danny was engulfed by the love of his children. The reunion pushed them out into the living room, Danny giving Grace the biggest hug that he could remember before reaching down to pick up Charlie despite the flare of pain it caused in his chest.

Because nothing was as encompassing as the warmth and adoration that he had for his children, the main reason for his being. Danny kissed and hugged, beaming as he stood up to soak in their smiling faces. Of course there was one other person who invoked this type of raw affection and adoration. And he was standing just a few inches away, sporting his own goofy grin.

Danny looked over at Steve and gestured. “Come on, you.”

Grace looked over at Steve, her face breaking a moment before she approached him with wide eyes . “Hey, Uncle Steve.” 

Approaching his left side, she wrapped her arms around him. Steve kissed the top of her head. “I missed you,” Grace said, her voice muffled.

“I missed you too, sweetheart. ”

Charlie looked between Steve and Rachel, who walked over to stand behind them. “Was Uncle Steve in a car accident?”

“Yes, he was, sweetheart,” Rachel responded. “But you can still give him a gentle hug.”

Danny watched as Charlie hugged Steve around the legs. Steve cupped the back of Charlie’s head with his hand. “Hey, buddy.” 

Grace and Charlie showered Steve with love. Rachel walked over and stood beside Danny. He quirked an eyebrow in question.

“Obviously, I told Grace what happened once everything was safe. She’ll yell at you later.” Rachel gave him a wan smile. “What about everything else?”

“I don’t know.” Danny didn’t have a freaking clue, but for this morning, he wouldn’t think about it. He had the most precious things in the world right in front of him. “Okay guys, I smell all kinds of food.”

Grace bounced over to his side. “We made all your favorites! Uncle Steve’s, too.”

Laying a hand on Steve’s good shoulder, Danny guided him toward the dining room table where the kids and Rachel started setting up a giant breakfast.

***

“You’ve been out of the hospital for two days, Steven. Two days.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Playing the sympathy card will probably not help much.”

Steve blinked owlishly at him. 

“Babe, you’re like an injured bird that people want to help.”

Steve scowled, but he still proved his point with the fact that he hadn’t been able to put on a fresh shirt without wincing. 

“A bird of prey of course.” Danny helped Steve put his arm through his shirtsleeve. “But the clipped wing, hit by a car look kind of takes away the whole predator mystique.”

“I’m still going.”

Danny rolled his eyes even as he gathered Steve’s pants and looked for his crutches. “You are such a stubborn, mule-headed ox.”

***

Danny’s knee bounced under the table while he waited on Agent Woll to arrive. Steve placed a hand over it, stilling his leg. But Danny’s nervous energy had no outlet and he really wanted to pace.

“Breathe,” Steve reminded him.

“It’s only been a few days since we busted Reyes; I highly doubt they recovered my funds that fast.”

“But it’s been three weeks since we launched the investigation. They may have already made progress.”

Three weeks. Had it really been that long already? Hell, more than that. They had begun tailing Sosa almost a month ago.

Agent Woll entered the private room and set down her laptop down and a file folder. “Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams.”

Danny fidgeted in his seat.

“I’ll get to the point as I know the both of you are busy and this has been a source of a huge amount of stress. We still don’t know how your bank accounts were breached and we haven’t been able to track down the person behind the cyber-attack.”

Sweat pooled between Danny shoulder blades. Steve reached over and squeezed his wrist, strong and reassuring.

“Even though we were not able to identify the suspect, rest assured that we’ve worked with your banks investigative unit and helped verify the criminality of the attack.” Woll smiled at them. “The bank’s private insurance will reimburse your missing funds.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought the FDIC didn’t insure fraud,” Danny said.

“They don’t, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a lengthy list of cyber security requirements for consumer banks to protect customer account takeovers and financial loss.” Woll pulled out a bunch of pamphlets and slid them over. “Thus, your bank will have to cover the loss.”

Exhaling, Danny slumped in his chair. “This is…this is great news.”

“Be forewarned though, you will need to work with your bank on the recovery of your funds and that could take a few more weeks of your institution dealing with their insurance company.” She pulled out brochures on credit card schemes. “It will take even longer to work out the fraud with all the credit bureaus. But yes, in time, your credit record should return to normal.”

The idea that his credit score could still be in the tank was discouraging given how far behind they were on the restaurant, but this meant Steve’s money would be recovered as well; and yeah, that was a load off his shoulders. 

“We’ll work with the credit bureaus and the utility companies and in the meantime, Danny will be staying with me,” Steve said. “What about the Homeland Security alert?”

Woll typed on her keyboard, reading something on the screen. “It’s still a work in progress , but it should be removed by the end of the week. Whomever this Reyes hired, my division would love to get our hands on him or her.”

“Yeah, you and me, both,” Danny grumbled.

***

Of course after the bank, Steve wanted to go to work, but Danny put the brakes on that and drove them home instead.

“We’ve played our part in this case,” Danny said, opening the door to the house for Steve. “We were pieces manipulated on a chessboard; let the DEA and the Feds battle over the remains.”

“It was our case.” 

Danny rolled his eyes. Walking into the kitchen, he searched for things to put together for lunch . “By the way, we need to talk about you sinking all your savings into the restaurant without telling me.”

Steve diverted his gaze, a sure sign he was deflecting. “I told you I transferred money to cover the last round of contract work.”

Danny pulled out sandwich fixings. “Contract, supplies, equipment. I put you in charge of finances because you supposedly ran high-dollar military operations, not so you could cook the books.”

“I didn’t disclose how much money I was using; it’s not the same.”

“If you put forth the effort of concealing it from me, it’s the same as lying. And don’t tell me it was to protect us. You of all people know that is bullshit. We don’t lie to the people we love, Steve. That’s not love at all.”

Steve stood in the entrance of the kitchen watching him with this expression of surprise, his lips parted as if he wanted to ask a questions, the wrinkles around his eyes increasing in hesitancy. 

One of Danny’s goals was to ensure Steve never looked at him like that again. “Steve. Repeat after me. I will not keep anything from you again.”

“I won’t keep anything from you again.”

“Because we don’t keep things from people we love.”

There it was again , the surprise, and finally, Steve smiled, a beautiful, gorgeous grin. “Because we don’t keep things from the people we love.”

“Good, now let’s eat lunch and maybe take a nap.”

“What if I don’t want to take a nap?” 

Smooth Dog McGarrett trying to make a play made Danny beam. It was dorky and cute, and did fond things to his heart. 

Danny could lay on the innuendo just as thick. “Believe me; you want to rest up, because we have the entire rest of the day to ourselves.” 

***

It was actually easy to fall asleep next to Steve in the middle of the day. After a busy morning, Danny was content. It didn’t mean there weren’t challenges ahead, things to rebuild, but he pushed those thoughts away as soon as he snuggled up against Steve’s warm body, his eyes drifting close minutes later.

***

Waking came in increments, awareness that Danny’s body felt comfortable, that his brain was rested, and that the weight and worry of the world wasn’t pressing down so hard anymore.

Stretching, careful of the tender area around his ribs, he rolled his head to the side and looked over at Steve. He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. After all the times they’d fallen into bed with one another, his heart knew this time was different. 

The sheet was only draped up to Steve’s hips, revealing all the tanned skin and contours of Steve’s body. Danny knew how hard Steve worked to keep himself in shape; he was all lean muscle. Danny’s eyes roamed over the planes of his chest and abs. 

A curl of desire spread from his groin and throughout the rest of him.

After several moments, Steve rolled onto his side, and opened his eyes. He smiled at Danny.

“Hey,” Danny said, his voice scratchy. 

“Hey.”

“You forgot your sling,” Danny mumbled, sitting up enough to enjoy the view even more.

“Hmm-mmm.” Steve licked his lips, his eyes half-lidded . “Yeah, kind of convenient, isn’t it?”

Yes. Very.

It was time for Danny to make the first move. 

Danny leaned down and kissed Steve on the mouth. It was fleeting at first, tongue tracing along Steve's lips, teasing and light, making Danny shiver. 

Steve deepened the kiss. It was desperate and hungry, and God, Danny needed this, wanted it so bad. Wanted _more._

Breaking away from Steve’s lips, he panted, "I want to keep going….”

Steve groaned in response, his voice throaty. “Yeah.”

Rolling onto his knees, Danny rested his hand over the bulge of Steve’s boxers, Steve groaning in response.

Leaning down, he kissed Steve’s stomach, Steve’s side, careful of the still fading bruises. He was even more cautious around Steve’s healing ribs, planting gentle kisses along his belly again. 

Danny blew a breath across the hair surrounding Steve’s belly button. Steve’s fingers curled into the bed sheets, his body trembling in response. 

God, he loved this, loved being able to do something that made Steve feel good and hum in pleasure. Danny ran his tongue over the warm, soft skin between Steve’s thighs. He was careful to avoid the healing area of Steve’s leg, but based on Steve’s blissful reactions, he was too turned on to notice.

Danny slowly threaded Steve’s cock through the gap in his boxers. It was beautiful, flushed pink and ready. Danny stroked his thumbs over the soft head before bending to take it into his mouth. Steve gasped in response.

Lust coiled in the bottom of Danny’s stomach, stretching out to his fingers and toes, racing down his spine. 

Danny nuzzled his face against the shaft, licking all along the bottom of Steve’s cock, down to his balls, teasing them with his fingers. 

“Oh, God,” Steve groaned, his legs shifting in pleasure.

Enjoying the reaction, Danny curled his fingers around the hem of Steve’s boxers and started pulling them down, working them over Steve’s hips and down his legs so Steve didn’t have to move his healing body too much. 

Danny returned his attention to Steve’s length, gently sucking the head on the upstroke, his mouth tight under the ridged lip. 

It’s been so long, too long, and he'd been so hungry for this--for Steve. 

Danny lingered over the head, breathing raggedly, sucking Steve off ever so slowly.

Steve moved his hand into Danny’s hair while making the most amazing noises of pleasure. 

Pulling away with his mouth, Danny wrapped his fist around Steve’s wet, thick cock, and began pumping in a slow, steady rhythm. 

Steve gasped, panting, his eyes drifting gratifyingly closed. Danny couldn't take his eyes off Steve’s pleasure-flushed face. He wanted to capture it, burn it to memory, savor every precious second. 

“You’re so beautiful like this, babe. God, look at you.”

Steve groaned, spreading his legs wider as Danny stroked his length. Encouraged, Danny bent down again, working the head, sucking hard then lightly, then hard again.

“God, Danny, Holy….”

Steve came hard. 

Danny removed his mouth and watched Steve’s entire body shudder, riding out the low, aching moan that Steve always made when he let go.

Buzzing with adrenaline, Danny pressed his face into Steve’s hip and thigh, relishing all Steve’s aftershocks. 

When Steve finally returned to himself, he reached over, grabbing at Danny. Not wanting him to injure his shoulder, Danny crawled over Steve instead.

Steve kissed a path of liquid fire up Danny’s neck and throat. Then Steve took Danny’s cock in his hand and started working him. It felt so fucking good; Danny’s body was already vibrating with sensation from touching and tasting Steve. Just the touch of Steve’s fingers sent electric sparks thought his body.

Danny squirmed closer, his body stuttering over Steve. He was right there, so close, his body a live wire . 

Steve kissed and nibbled at Danny’s throat, along his collarbone. His hand worked Danny harder, faster, until Danny gasped, his body convulsing in pleasure. 

Exhausted, Danny fell beside Steve in a heap, every nerve short-circuited, his toes curling in contentment. He lay unmoving, savoring every moment of pleasure with a grin from ear to ear.

“You were right about needing that nap,” Steve slurred. 

“Yeah, and now we need another one.”

Danny crawled over until he was half draped over Steve’s side, his body jelly. He’d move to clean them up in a second, but for now, he hummed in contentment, listening to the happy sounds Steve made with every breath.

***

Danny sat in a chair beside Steve on the lanai and watched the water lap the shore. Danny wore a sleeveless shirt and shorts. Steve, of course, enjoyed limping around in nothing but a pair of black swim trunks. It was a peaceful day. Danny was happy.

It was nice to look at Steve’s face without wincing in reminder of the last month. Even the bruising on Steve’s chest and stomach was mostly gone. Steve soaked in the warm healing rays of the sun. Danny didn’t even lecture him about not wearing the sling. 

“You know it’s been almost two weeks since we’ve been under the threat of violence,” Danny commented.

“That is both an accurate and disturbing statement.”

“And yet, here we are enjoying each other’s company.”

Steve regarded him with curiosity. “I know you’re going for something deep, but I’m not following.”

“I like this, I like being with you. Not because we’re reeling from some disaster. I want this. All the time.”

“I thought you had all these reasons. Grace and Charlie….”

“Excuses, not reasons. My children love you and part of being a family is about learning how to juggle responsibilities. I’ve realized I’m quite capable of doing that now. I guess the biggest question now is do you want to make this something more?”

Danny had often been too scared to explore things with Steve, too overwhelmed by past mistakes. For every needy glance Steve had sent Danny’s way over the years, there was a knowledge deep inside Danny that Steve would shy away from ever acknowledging his own needs.

“The only long-term commitment I’ve ever made was to the Navy. But even that was a contract with an expiration date.” Steve dropped his gaze, his eyes watching the waves. “The whole thing with us…it scares me, because it feels…mutual. And I’m…I’m not used to that.”

Danny reached over and took Steve’s hand. “I’m not a contractual obligation and I’m not a military body who’ll upgrade to the newest weapon when the current one goes out of date. I’m human, and I have the same type of fears as you do. I wouldn’t keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again, if I wasn’t.”

“I thought I was a Neanderthal?”

“You are, but the last time I checked, they were human, just a little on the more archaic side of the spectrum.” Danny rubbed the pad of his thumb over Steve’s fingers. “It’s okay if you’re scared, babe. We can be scared together and fumble along and make mistakes, and learn from them, too. But believe me, the feelings we share are very mutual. More than mutual.”

Steve wrapped his fingers around Danny’s wrist and tugged him over. Danny happily sat on Steve’s warm lap, enjoying the sight of all that tanned skin. “Is that a yes?”

Steve brought his lips to Danny’s, breaking away with a breathless, “Yes. Definitely a yes.”

***

Sometimes it took life’s lowest points to encourage bold moves.

Given the timeframe the bank gave Danny regarding his funds, and his continued credit rating problems, it was easier to move into Steve’s. 

Tani walked over, sipping on a beer. “So, let me get this straight. Last month, things were too complicated, and now…?”

Danny ignored her. “It’s called efficiency.” 

“Or convenience.” She took a sip from her bottle. “At least I don’t have to worry about walking in on the two of you in McGarrett’s office if you’re sharing a bed now.”

“You really don’t have a filter, do you?”

Tani grinned. “No.”

Danny chuckled. 

“And let me guess,” Tani said around another grin. “He’s driving you crazy about returning to work, so you put him in charge of the move?”

“Perhaps.” 

The rehab on Steve’s shoulder was taking longer than expected. He’d been antsy. Danny watched Steve act like he was in charge of the poor movers as he gave advice about how to arrange all the boxes being unloaded. 

Junior came out from the house, dripping sweat and looking like he was having the time of his life.

“You know, Steve and I actually paid for these guys,” Danny pointed out. 

“Yeah,” Junior said with a grin. Then went back toward the truck.

Lou followed Junior out of the house, sipping on his own beer and making Danny wonder if he needed to get more. “That young man is like the Energizer Bunny.”

“Good,” Danny commented. “He can do all our foot chases when the bad guys run.”

Watching the team of movers was a surreal, and like the previous few weeks, he felt Lou’s gaze, watching him.

Danny turned toward his friend. If the last month taught him anything, it was about living in the moment. “You know, I never got a chance to thank you. If it wasn’t for—”

“No, man, there’s no need for thanks. We’re family and family is always there for each other.”

Smiling, Danny held up his beer and Lou clanked their bottles together. 

Just then, the biggest bright spot of his day decided to walk toward them, pulsating with energy. “Hey,” Steve called for his attention . “They’re almost done loading. Once they finish, we can do a physical count of the boxes, inspect the furniture for damage and—”

Danny pressed his fingers against Steve’s lips, followed by a quick kiss. Stepping back, he grinned at Steve’s pouty expression. 

“Slow your roll, Commander. I’m sure the pros have this op under control.”

Tani burst into laughter and Lou covered his smile with a swallow of beer.

Steve looked around at their team in confusion. “Slow my roll?”

“It’s what all the kids are saying these days.” Danny planted another kiss to Steve’s lips. “You need to get with the program, babe.”

“Yeah, okay. So, I’ll just –”

“You’ll just relax, and have a beer, and stand here beside me while we watch the next chapter in our lives begin.”

Steve looked at Danny like he was the most precious thing in the world. Looping his good arm around Danny’s back, Steve stood next to him, their shoulders touching, both of them watching as the rest of Danny’s belongings went inside Steve’s house. No, _their_ home. 

Danny took it all in, basking in the moment, grateful for every second. Simple and uncomplicated and wonderful.

***

Fini-

 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/155318542@N02/43194732714/in/dateposted-family/) -

Graphic by Nihilvanum

Thank you so much.

You can hang out with me here :) http://thekristen999.tumblr.com/

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art: From The Ashes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15576558) by [nihilvanum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihilvanum/pseuds/nihilvanum)




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